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Business News/ News / India/  Lack of staff, PPE keeps Mumbai’s private hospitals shut
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Lack of staff, PPE keeps Mumbai’s private hospitals shut

Mumbai municipal commissioner I.S. Chahal has reportedly ordered ward officers to register criminal offence charges against private hospitals, clinics and nursing homes that have failed to reopen
  • Doctors, however, cited non-availability of staff and personal protective equipment (PPE) for their inability to open clinics
  • The covid threat faced by frontline medical staff came to the fore when Wockhardt Hospital was declared a containment zone. (HT)Premium
    The covid threat faced by frontline medical staff came to the fore when Wockhardt Hospital was declared a containment zone. (HT)

    MUMBAI : A lack of staff and personal protective gear is forcing private hospitals, clinics and nursing homes in Mumbai to remain shut despite the state government’s repeated orders to reopen.

    On Wednesday, I.S. Chahal, the municipal commissioner of Mumbai, reportedly ordered ward officers to register criminal offence charges against private hospitals, clinics and nursing homes that have failed to reopen.

    Doctors, however, cited non-availability of staff and personal protective equipment (PPE) for their inability to open clinics. The fear of pandemic has driven people out of Mumbai. The ones who are left are forbidden by their families to step out. Plus we do not have PPEs to offer them for their protection. A doctor needs assisting staff. How does the state expect us to function?" said a senior doctor who has his clinic in Parel, central Mumbai. He has doubled staff pay to try and get them back to work. Since the coronavirus outbreak, a large number of patients in Mumbai have complained of being turned away from hospitals for lack of vacancy or denied treatment due to fear of infection.

    With most state-run hospitals having become covid-19 fighting zones, the municipal body has been requesting private clinics and nursing homes to open at least their out patient departments (OPDs) to attend to non-covid patients.

    “We are reaching out to as many doctors as possible and asking them to open their clinics but the government needs to step in and solve the issue of PPE shortage and pricing," said Prakash Borana, president-elect of the Indian Medical Association, Mumbai branch. Borana said that for general practitioners, who run clinics with a staff of two to three, PPE costs are an average of 3,000 a day, in addition to the salary and extra transportation costs. This is not viable.

    “For now, we are trying to source as many PPE kits as possible from NGOs, but the talks are on with the government to provide kits free of cost to all operational clinics in Mumbai. We are also trying to convince BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) to not lodge FIRs against doctors who are unable to open their clinics due to these issues, but they have the authority to do that and there is not much we will be able to do if they go ahead with these measures," he added.

    The Mumbai Metropolitan Region has 25,000 registered doctors, 30% of whom or nearly 7,500 doctors would be around 60 years of age—an added vulnerability.

    “If a doctor is above 60 years old and co-morbid, he will not be opening the clinic. That is why we have given the doctors permission legally and officially to consult patients on telemedicine and telephone. The aim is to see that emergency patients get advice or treatment," said Dr Shivkumar Utture, president, Maharashtra Medical Council.

    kalpana.p@livemint.com

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    Published: 21 May 2020, 10:30 PM IST
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