Nurses treating coronavirus patients at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, a leader in treatment of COVID-19 cases, will stage a a one-day walkout next week if working conditions don’t improve.
They have been protesting since Monday over long shifts and the need to use congested cubicles to change in and out of personal protective equipment, a possible health risk.
For the last five days, representatives of the AIIMS Nurses’ Union have been holding a silent sit-in protest at JLN auditorium on campus and their top demand is “implementation of uniform four-hour duty with PPE in Covid-19 areas”, reported The Indian Express.
Fameer CK, general secretary of the union that represents 5,000 nurses at AIIMS, told The Indian Express that they have written to the Union Health Minister about their demands. S K Panda, deputy director of administration, AIIMS, said a meeting was held with the union Thursday and most of their demands were “resolved” except that of reduced work hours in PPE.
Fameer C.K. said India was “going to face a big issue” as increasing numbers of staff fell sick.
He said nurses had been working six-hour shifts that stretch to eight hours with the time needed to don the PPE kits.
More than 350 medical workers at AIIMS and 150 family members have been infected by the virus since March, said Dr. D.K. Sharma, the hospital’s medical superintendent. He said about 60 percent have recovered.
“If day after day our health care workers are infected … we are going to face a big issue,” said Fameer C.K., general secretary of the union that represents 5,000 nurses at AIIMS.
The union issued the threat to stay home from work next Wednesday after talks with the hospital administration on Thursday ended without agreement, he said.
The concerns raised by nurses at AIIMS are echoed by medical personnel at other government hospitals in the city.
In Mumbai, the city with the most cases, doctors are not being paid their salaries on time and a shortage of nurses is hurting the response to the coronavirus, said the People’s Health Movement India, a network of health activists.
The number of new cases has surged since the government began relaxing a nationwide lockdown which left many impoverished people without work. In New Delhi, for example, half of the city’s over 23,000 confirmed cases were detected in the past 10 days.
Around 400 off-duty nurses at AIIMS are protesting at a time outside the administrative headquarters while maintaining physical distance, Fameer said.
He said the nurses have been working six-hour shifts that stretch to eight hours with the time needed to don the PPE kits. With central air-conditioning switched off due to fears it could spread the virus, some nurses fainted when the city reeled under a recent heatwave, when temperatures soared to 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47.6 degrees Celsius), he said.
