Almost 1,000 nurses returned to their hometown as the city became the nation’s epicentre of COVID-19 with the highest number of cases
MUMBAI| In Mumbai a shortage of nurses is threatening to cripple operations of hospitals as the city is worst affected by the COVID-19. Followed by Mumbai, Delhi is also the worst affected by the COVID-19. The reason being the situation on the ground as the fear of infections and lack of adequate personal protection drives nurses to their hometowns, leaving the burden of patient care the few who stayed back.
The COVID-19 crises are acute in Mumbai. Almost 1,000 nurses returned to their hometown as the city became the nation’s epicentre of COVID-19 with the highest number of cases. Private and public hospitals are left with a few hundred nurses who work double shifts and attend to a threefold increase in the number of patients.
Raheja Hospital, one of Mumbai’s designated COVID-19 hospital, has 136 nurses, about half the strength of 276 it had in March.
While talking to ET, the CEO of Raheja Hospitals, Hiren Ambegaonkar said, “Every day I am in a dilemma on how to manage the hospital with fewer staff.”
“There is a fear among nurses and specifically those working in Mumbai,” said Gautam Khanna, CEO of Hinduja Hospital.
The members of the nurses union told ET, the unrest among medical staff including nurses has also been because public and private hospitals have not provided them with adequate protection. They also said the state government is not hiring people who have applied for nursing jobs.
According to several nurse union in Maharashtra, the state’s Directorate of Medical Education and Research had verified the candidature of about 2,200 nurses who cleared the qualifying exam and were placed on the merit list. However, 401 positions of 528 vacancies in the state were filled, leaving 1,800 nurses available for recruitment.
The nursing unions claimed, the Covid-19 outbreak has exposed the fault lines of the health care system in Maharashtra, Mumbai and the country at large.
The unions suggested that hospitals should hire contract nursing staff who are already working in Covid-19 wards as this will motivate more nurses to join the workforce.
In New Delhi, over 4,000 nurses at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences have been protesting for better facilities at the workplace for the past week. The agitating nurses had threatened to go on mass casual leave on Wednesday and an indefinite strike from June 15. However, they called off their plans on Wednesday after the hospital administration agreed to meet their demands.
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