Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal have the maximum number of COVID positive staff nurses in the country and also the highest fatality rate, the Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI) said on Thursday.
TNAI, the largest nursing association in the country, released data for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, indicating that 509 nursing staff were infected and 20 died while providing care to COVID patients.
According to the data, West Bengal reported 111 COVID positive nurses with three fatalities; Maharashtra has 75 cases with six deaths and Gujarat 96 cases with four deaths. Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh has the least recorded COVID case-load among nursing staff with Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh registering the lowest reported fatalities.
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The Central Government meanwhile said so far more than 3.04 crore N95 masks and more than 1.28 crore PPE kits had been distributed to States/ UTs / Central institutions, free of cost since March.
Also, more than 10.83 crore HCQ tablets have been distributed while 22,533 ‘Make in India’ ventilators have been delivered to various States/ UTs / Central Institutions. “The Centre is also ensuring their installation and commissioning,” said the Health Ministry.
“Safety of medical staff is among our top priority and along with augmenting COVID-19 facilities, the Union Government has been providing medical supplies free of cost to the State/UT governments to supplement their efforts. This is being done with the combined efforts of several ministries,” said a senior health official.
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The Ministry added that with support of over a lakh frontline workers it has been successful in implementation of testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently through an array of measures including supervised home isolation, and effective clinical management of severe and critical patients through the Standard of Care advised by the Centre.