At the Patna Medical College and Hospital, students and interns are living in constant fear. Every day, they are called upon to join the ho...
At the Patna Medical College and Hospital, students and interns are living in constant fear. Every day, they are called upon to join the hospital’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic – but without any protective gear. They have no masks, gloves, gowns or safety wear to shield them from exposure to the novel coronavirus that has caused the Covid-19 outbreak. But students are still forced to live on campus, share a canteen with patients and visitors, and directly attend to Covid-19 patients.
“At a time like this, we are willing to work if needed, but we are not willing to commit suicide,” one final-year student told Scroll.in on the condition of anonymity. “Senior doctors have protective gear, but we are not being given any.”
One reason why India’s health workers are facing such crippling shortages of safety gear is that the Central government released guidelines for the manufacture of Covid-19 safety gear on the same day as it announced a 21-day lockdown.
As a result, workers of the factories that produce the safety gear are struggling to get to work. With transport grinding to a halt, manufacturing firms are also unable to easily send their products for testing and certification at the sole government institute designated for...
