Dehydrated, dizzy, medical workers soldier on with PPE in humid, non-AC Covid wards

Spending hours in isolation wards wearing the life-saving personal protective equipment (PPE) is a difficult experience for health workers.

Spending hours in isolation wards wearing the life-saving personal protective equipment (PPE) is a difficult experience for health workers.

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Every medical worker deployed at an isolation ward is given a three-day training which also includes how to use and dispose PPEs. However, despite using them for a month, nurses and doctors find the protective gear uncomfortable and humid, especially with the temperatures soaring, as the air-conditions (ACs) in Covid-19 wards have been switched off to prevent the possibility of the virus spreading through the ducts. To avoid any contamination, the gears can be worn only once. If health workers use washrooms, they have to resort to a long-drawn procedure of disposing used PPEs and wearing new ones. As each of these suits cost around ₹1,200- ₹1,500, nurses limit the intake of water and food to avoid going to washrooms and put their own health at risk. Thus, many of them have developed dehydration.

“In non-AC rooms, we sweat profusely in the plastic cover. This makes us dehydrated as we already restrict our water intake. Sometimes, I even feel dizzy,” said a nurse from Seven Hills Hospital, Marol.

To ensure that every part is covered with the protective gear while attending a Covid-19 patient, health workers wear two layers of gloves, a mask, goggles and plastic protective cover on their footwear, which stretches to the knees.

“We sweat profusely in the kit and the fogging of the googles makes the work difficult,” said Dr Lancelot Pinto, epidemiologist from Hinduja Hospital.

Specialised doctors do not stay for long hours to examine patients. Depending on the number of patients, they spend around two-three hours, which includes around 10 minutes to wear the PPEs and 15 minutes to take them off and dispose them. “More than us, it is the nurses who are making more adjustments to stay put in the suits for hours. Hats off to them,” said epidemiologist Dr Om Srivastava.

Sumedha Boshle (name changed), 37, a nurse stationed at Kasturba Hospital’s isolation ward works from 8am to 4pm every day. She said donning the safety suit is a huge challenge but the health workers have to wear them as it is the only protective barrier between them and coronavirus patients. “The PPE is like rubber. In the beginning, I used to sneeze a lot because of the smell, but now I have got used to it. My body also smells of it. Everything comes with a price,” she said.

There are precautions that need to be taken while taking off the PPEs and disposing them. The gears must be taken off in a designated area. “They are wrapped in yellow biohazard bags for disposal. By the time we take them off, our clothes get drenched in sweat,” said Dr Ajit Baviskar, head of emergency department and consultant critical care, Global Hospital.

Despite all the precautions, health workers are scared that they would infect their families. Boshle has not seen her 10-year-old daughter for the past two weeks. Currently, she has been lodged at a temporary accommodation provided by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). “Every day after my duty hours, I talk to my daughter on video calls. That’s the only time I get to see her,” she said.