400 docs step up as second line of defence for healthcare staff in war against COVID-19
New Delhi/Kolkata: As doctors and healthcare professionals fighting the Coronavirus epidemic on the frontlines continue to face a severe shortage of medical equipment, masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) in light of the lockdown, a group of around 400 doctors and surgeons in Kolkata, who had formed a collective are working on the second line of defence, trying to equip these frontline workers with requisite protection against COVID-19.
The organisation, mostly comprising senior doctors and surgeons from private hospitals along with medical professionals working in the public sector in Kolkata, has come together to mobilise their collective resources to help bring protective gear for healthcare workers treating, testing and dealing with COVID-19 patients or suspects.
Dr Krishnendu Mukherjee, president of Doctors for Patients, said that their objective was to make sure all medical professionals fighting the crisis were adequately protected. "It gets very difficult for hospitals to order masks and other protective gear in these times of lockdown. So, we are using all our resources to bring as many of these to hospitals here as possible."
He said that they have already ordered thousands of masks, the first 1,000 of which arrived in some hospitals on Monday. In addition, they have also been able to procure hundreds of PPE kits, the first batch (150-200) of which is expected to arrive in three to four days.
Dr Mukherjee says in cases of such a pandemic, one of the most important rules of thumb is "to assume everyone is positive unless proven otherwise".
He explained that there is a chance of a COVID-19 suspect walking into any hospital and hence it becomes necessary to equip as many medical workers as possible.
An executive committee member of Doctors for Patients said that this battle was not one where warriors go in brazenly in a show of bravery. "This is a different war. We need to make sure the people fighting this thing are properly equipped to fight it," Dr Prosenjit Chatterjee said.
On the one hand, some hospitals like the Beliaghata ID Hospital are making do with raincoats to their doctors, while on the other some private hospitals like Apollo Gleneagles will soon run out of PPE kits unless reinforcements arrive in time.
Dr Suresh, senior consultant (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine) at Apollo Gleneagles said: "We have enough for 15 days. Beyond that, we would be putting our entire staff at risk of exposure if we do not get the protective gear in time."
Dr Suresh further said their major mask distributor Kimberly Clark in Pune was not able to bring them the supply due to the lockdown and suppliers in China and other countries are not accepting orders below 10,000. "That's quite a lot for hospitals like ours," he added.
