As Bengaluru's COVID-19 Situation Turns Critical, Hospitals Are Closing; Docs, Paramedics Quit

Doctors, nurses, and other frontline health workers do not have any superpowers that make them immune to COVID-19.

In fact, they are more vulnerable to the infection, due to their regular interaction with COVID-19 positive patients.

AP

The only thing that can keep them safe are proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which unfortunately is still in short supply for them.

This is forcing many to choose their own well being at a time when they are most needed.

This is particularly true, in Bengaluru, where the COVID-19 situation is getting out of control and more and more health care workers are required to take care of the ever-growing number of patients.

BCCL

But in Bengaluru, several private hospitals are facing acute shortage of doctors, nurses, ward boys and helpers.

"There is actually acute shortage of manpower in Bengaluru hospitals, especially nurses, ward boys and helpers. Even before Covid, we had a little shortage but after Covid they all left in droves," Karnataka chapter Indian Medical Association (IMA) official Ravindra told IANS.

He roughly estimated the shortage to be 6,000 doctors and about 12,000 - 18,000 nurses and ward boys. A major reason Ravindra cited for the shortage is the fear of contracting the virus amid the pandemic as they discharge duties in hospitals. "Some of them cannot work because they are pregnant or above 55, diabetic or other health problems. Some of them are not coming to work although they did not leave the job," he said.

BCCL

In case of support staff, he said most of them are migrant workers from Gulbarga and other districts who panicked after seeing some videos of Covid victims being dumped and buried. "They said if I have to die, I don't want to die in Bengaluru. I will die and get buried in my native place. After those videos went viral, quite a few have left," explained Ravindra.

Recently there was a video that went viral on social media, in which Dr Taha Mateen, managing trustee, HBS Hospital, Shivajnagar appealed to doctors from inside a COVID-19 ICU asking them to return to work, promising all facilities like PPE Kits to keep them safe.

Dr Taha Mateen who is in the forefront of fighting Covid in Bangalore completely on his personal capacity is making an appeal to Doctors and Nurses.
He has all the facilities like beds, PPE Kits, Ventilators but needs more doctors and nurses. pic.twitter.com/94b2bPkMQY

¡ª Aarif Shah (@aarifshaah) July 5, 2020

The shortage of staff is just one of the problems Bengaluru is facing, the other major crisis is how small private hospitals are shutting down.

According to Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) 58 of 384 hospitals in Bengaluru have closed down in the past one year.

¡°Some of these 25 hospitals have completely shut shop, while others have restricted operations to outpatient services only,¡± said Dr R Ravindra, president, PHANA, adding that ¡°These are all small nursing homes, but they could have been of great help now. It¡¯s been a tough time for private hospitals.¡±

Others say that the lockdown was a major blow when all the OPDs were forced to shut.

BCCL

And even after the restrictions were lifted, many of them which are run by one or two doctors and a few dozen paramedical staff could not comply with new safety regulations and had no option, but to close down.