Aurangabad: Resident doctors protest, demand PPE, N95 masks

Aurangabad, Apr 6 () Amid the coronavirus outbreak,resident doctors of the Government Medical College andHospital here in Maharashtra staged a protest demandingpersonal protective equipment and N95 surgical masks for theirown safety.

Two patients and a staff member of the GovernmentMedical College and Hospital (GMCH) have so far testedpositive for coronavirus at the medical facility.

The resident doctors protested outside the office ofthe GMCH dean on Sunday and said the personal protectiveequipment (PPE) and N95 masks were essential for doctorsdeployed in emergency health services.

They submitted a memorandum to the dean, saying theywould stay quarantined in their hostels if the safetyequipment are not provided.

"Even after some patients tested positive forcoronavirus, the doctors treating them in emergency wards werenot provided these safety equipment," Mahrashtra Associationof Resident Doctors (MARD) Aurangabad unit president Dr AmirTadvi told .

These doctors attend to 50 to 100 patients in a day.It is now dangerous to treat patients without the protectiveequipment, he said.

"We have put forth our demands as per guidelines ofthe Indian Council of Medical Research. We expect that theseequipment would be supplied without any disruption. We havenot stopped working, we have only demanded masks and PPE forour safety," MARD vice president Dr Sandeep Chauhan said.

After the peotest, the emergency ward doctors wereprovided PPE and N95 masks on Sunday, Tadvi said.

After a meeting with MARD officials, GMCH Dean DrKanan Yelikar issued a release, saying masks and PPE wereavailable in adequate quantity.

Presently, the safety equipment are kept with the in-charge ward staff and will be made available to doctors ifthey demand, it added. AWGK GK