PPEs and N95 masks are of poor quality: Telangana Jr Docs

Hyderabad: The state government's tall claims of providing top-quality protective equipment to doctors in the state fall short as the Telangana Junior Doctors Association (T-JUDA) writes a letter to the authorities demanding quality Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for interns working in COVID-19 wards across the state.

The T-JUDA has complained that PPE kits and N-95 masks provided by the government are of poor quality and not sufficient. Speaking to NewsMeter, Dr. Vishnu, the president of T-JUDA, said, “ The PPEs and N-95 masks provided by the government are not standard quality. There is no ISO mark on the equipment. Also, the PPEs provided are made of plastic. The interns are drenched in sweat after 10 minutes into the PPEs. Besides, hospitals do not have basic facilities for interns and many are dehydrated. There are roughly around 1,300 to 1,400 interns working across Telangana government hospitals."

Representatives from T-JUDA met Dr. Vani, the special officer to the director of medical education, on 2 June and submitted the letter which said, “COVID-19 cases are increasing especially in the GHMC area and also nearly 12 postgraduate students in the Osmania Medical College have tested positive for COVID-19. T-JUDA requests the authorities to enforce self-imposed quarantine roster duties for all healthcare workers to avoid exposure and to maintain reserve workforce similar to previous circulars with at least seven days quarantine.”

The letter further said, “The government of Telangana had issued a circular on providing accommodation to healthcare workers since many are worried about infecting their family members. We request the government to provide adequate accommodation."