Watch: Gowns Given To Nurses To Protect Against COVID-19 Are Allegedly Tearing While Being Worn
The reality of the coronavirus pandemic for doctors and nurses can be extremely overwhelming. Every single day, they deal with exhaustion and the crippling fear of bringing home the virus. In this scenario, lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for those on the frontlines of the battle against coronavirus, is extremely worrying. More recently, nurses at a children's hospital in Marseille, filmed themselves attempting to dress in the gown only for the material to disintegrate in their hands.
MailOnline
Pictures that started circulating on social media shows how gowns designed to protect against coronavirus have been falling apart.
According to a Mail Online report, French officials are denying that they came from China, and say that the gowns belong to France's national stockpile and degraded after being kept in a humid place.
The report states that of the 20,400 gowns distributed that day, around 300 were found to be defective. A spokesman for Hospitals of Marseille said an immediate investigation into the gowns was carried out.
The Mail Online quoted Audrey Jolibois, head of a local medical worker's union as saying, ¡°We are told that this is an isolated case. For now, we want to believe them. Now, we remain very vigilant that this does not happen again.¡±
Reuters
Back in India, the lack of personal protection equipment is forcing doctors to don raincoats and motorbike helmets while treating patients.
In Uttar Pradesh, India¡¯s most populous state, drivers of around 4,700 ambulances that mainly serve government hospitals went on strike on Tuesday, demanding proper safety gear and health insurance.
Doctor of North Bengal Medical college says there is no surgical mask, no PPE kit, not even Hand Sanitisers for them ! Instead Doctors are given raincoats ! The health workers have gheraoed the Super today demanding basic amenities. Pathetic. @narendramodi @MoHFW_INDIA #COVID pic.twitter.com/XY5qFBlsGL
¡ª Keya Ghosh (@keyakahe) March 31, 2020
¡°We won¡¯t risk our lives unless our demand is met,¡± Hanuman Pandey, President of the Ambulance Workers Association, told Reuters.
In Kolkata, junior doctors at the major coronavirus treatment facility - Beleghata Infectious Disease Hospital - were given plastic raincoats to examine patients.
Reuters
The plight of doctors in the pandemic has cast a light on a
dilapidated and overburdened public health system, that has for years been
starved of funds and an overhaul. India spends about 1.3% of its GDP on public
health - among the lowest in the world.
A Reuters report states that the country desperately needs around 38 million masks and 6.2 million units of PPEs to confront COVID-19.
