Nurses working at the Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases (GHCCD) feel overburdened due to alleged lack of adequate staff and rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.
The staff also allege that they are not allowed to take even sick leaves.
The recent incident of six nurses who treated COVID-19 patients falling sick has brought to light how the nurses are being made to work overtime.
According to the staff, there are five permanent nurses and 22 nurses working on contract basis at GHCCD.
All the 27 nurses work in three shifts round the clock. Recently, six of them fell ill. As a precautionary measure, their samples were sent for testing and fortunately all have been tested negative and the doctors advised them to take sick leave for 14 days and be under home quarantine.
“Out of the total 27, six are availing leave now. Right now, 22 nurses are working in three shifts. Since the past three weeks, we have not taken leave and worked even though we have health issues,” alleged a nurse working at the hospital on condition of anonymity. The nurses also say that the number of cases admitted in the GHCCD has been rapidly increasing and the officials should allot more nurses, so that the pressure on them could be minimised.
‘No weekly off’
“On March 30 afternoon, the total number of admissions were 62. Every day, we are attending to duties and do not have a break once in a week. The officials concerned should at least allot 15 more nurses, so that we could heave a sigh of relief,” said a nurse from the GHCCD.
