Doctors in hospitals in the central region have raised complaints of shortage of staff and misleading RT-PCR reports of patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms, flagging major challenges faced by healthcare professionals as they combat the second wave of the pandemic.
Hospitals in Tiruchi and Thanjavur districts that have been witnessing a sharp increase in the number of cases and it has stretched the manpower to its full capacity. At the Tiruchi Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital, 380 nurses are on duty, of whom only 45 are on COVID-19 duty. They work in shifts, with 12 nurses in each shift managing at least 400 patients. This implies one nurse is deputed to look after least 50 patients. “At times like this when deaths and severity of cases are on the rise, we are simply unable to manage,” a nurse at the GH said.
The remaining nurses at the Tiruchi GH have been deputed to other wards, emergency, and trauma care, etc. “Last year, the entire healthcare workforce was deployed for COVID duty. This year, with no lockdown, it is different,” the nurse said.
The increasing workload and paucity of manpower have caused severe stress, they say.
“We are unable to cope. There is no time to breathe, and we see so many deaths every day; it is bound to take a toll on us. The authorities must pay heed and help us out,” a senior staff nurse told The Hindu . As many as 30 nursing students from private colleges were diverted to the Tiruchi MGMGH by the district administration. However, they are on non-COVID duty, they said.
In Thanjavur, doctors continue to struggle by convincing attenders of the COVID-19 patients to follow protocol. “They refuse to wear masks and PPE kits. They will put themselves, and others outside at risk,” a senior health official here said.
S. Maruthudurai, Medical Superintendent, Thanjavur Medical College Hospital, said that despite diverting all their manpower to the treatment of COVID-19, they are on the lookout for more staff.
Dr. Maruthudurai said that nearly 200 patients admitted to the TMCH are patients who are termed as ‘suspected COVID’ cases. These patients come with all the COVID-19 symptoms, a CT- scan showing lung involvement of the infection, but a negative RT-PCR test. “We call them Severe Acute Respiratory Illnesses, and treating them takes a sizeable portion of our manpower. These patients are not officially counted as COVID patients but we must treat them so,” he said. Meanwhile, private hospitals in panic, refer even patients with moderate symptoms to the TMCH, he said.
Dr. A. Liakath Ali, District Epidemiologist, Nagapattinam echoed Dr. Maruthudurai's thoughts. “While the lockdown was effective last year, the potency of the virus was low. This time around, with the new variants, it is affecting patients severely,” he said. Not observing COVID-19 protocol has been one of the main reasons for the spike in cases, along with the relaxation of norms.
