Doctors intensify demand of PPE kits as cases increase

New Delhi: At the brim of their health, doctors are putting their lives on the line to save the people from COVID-19 that has engulfed the whole country. With the number of cases of health workers increasing everyday, safety gear has become the need of the hour. Many hospitals are facing depletion of PPE kits.

At Kalawati Hospital, Lady Hardinge Hospital and St. Stephens Hospital, doctors have raised the issue adding that they are at the end of their stocks.

"We will manage for some more days but at the rate things are going, we would need more PPE kits for sustainability. We need to save ourselves first to be able to help the patients," said a doctor at St. Stephens on the condition of anonymity.

According to the AIIMS guidelines, decontamination of PPE kits for the purpose of reuse is currently not recommended, primarily because of concerns that it would degrade the performance, especially of the respirator. But then, decontamination and reuse of PPE kits may provide another solution by extending the existing on-hand supplies, the guidelines say.

The AIIMS has released guidelines for the reuse of PPE, citing their fast depletion of stocks in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, while stressing that the methods for disinfection should only be considered as last resort in the event of an imminent shortages of such kits.

"We are at the end of the stock and the rate at which cases are increasing, PPE kits are required. We have written to the administration and the government and we were told that they are trying to arrange more kits," said a doctor at Kalawati Hospital.

With 1,553 more COVID-19 cases, India's total number of cases has reached 17,265, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Monday while the count of those dead due to the deadly disease has reached 543 on Monday.