A day after senior resident doctors at Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) boycotted services demanding one-week quarantine after a week of work to be restored, the institute’s officials on Sunday said that quarantine leave was not advised by Government of India.
TIMS Director Dr Vimala Thomas said the leave was provided earlier, during the lockdown. However, with unlock leading to new normalcy, provision of the leave was removed as it was not advised. Around 120 Senior resident doctors have boycotted the duties from Saturday. They said that despite maintaining precautions such as wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and one week quarantine, around 10 of them and their family members contracted the infection. Senior resident doctors at the District Hospital in King Koti too are waiting to know if the leaves will be discontinued there too. Only COVID-19 patients are admitted at the two health facilities.
Citing an advisory issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on June 18, 2020, Dr Vimala Thomas said that quarantine leave has not been advised. Under the ‘SOP to be followed in case HCW reports exposure or breach of PPE’, procedure for identifying Health Care Workers (HCW) who were at high and low risk. It further details who should be allowed to go into quarantine, and the time period.
“In TIMS, all precautions to prevent infection among health care workers have been taken. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, N-95 masks, surgical gloves and sanitizer are being provided to all the staff doing COVID duty. TIMS has a Hospital Infection Control Committee (HICC) which is responsible for implementing the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) activities and organises regular trainings on IPC for HCWs,” the director stated.