Falling like nine pins: Covid-19 targets SKIMS staffers, authorities say otherwise
Srinagar: Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura has turned into a hot spot for Covid-19 infection as over 20 staffers in the hospital including some senior and renowned doctors are infected and are being treated for the lethal infection.
A couple of doctors alleged that despite being staffers in the tertiary care hospital they struggled to get a bed for themselves.
“It is very scary and heart-breaking when you treat Covid patients, get infected and then the hospital where you work, gives a damn to you,” said an infected doctor.
Insiders say that staffers from almost every department of the SKIMS are Covid-19 infected. The worst affected are Plastic Surgery and Urology departments.
If insiders are to be believed, four doctors from the Plastic Surgery section of the hospital are infected with Covid-19 infection. The family members of some of the infected doctors have also tested positive and isolated. Recently, In Charge Plastic Surgery section was discharged from the hospital after testing negative.
A senior doctor from the Neurosurgery Department has also caught Covid-19 infection. The Head of the Department of Neurosurgery has also been tested positive, said another source in the hospital.
They said that an Assistant Professor in the Urology Department and his wife have been advised to stay at home after developing Covid-19 like symptoms. A senior resident is also staying at home while another senior resident and first year PG student from Urology Department are admitted in the hospital.
The emergency medicine head is also staying at home while at least 7 staffers from the General Medicine Department are also infected and some of them are quarantined at home. The mother-in-law of a therapist has also tested positive.
Sources said that HoD, Nephrology is also staying at home and he has quarantined himself.
“Now why most of the doctors have quarantined themselves is an important question. They are struggling to find a bed for themselves in the hospital. Authorities are not ready to treat them at the hospital, thinking it will send a wrong message,” said an infected doctor.
Another doctor said that all the Covid-19 designated hospitals have kept beds reserved for their staffers but it is not the case in SKIMS. When asked why more and more health professionals are getting infected, he said PPE kits are not available in adequate numbers and whatever kits they get are of poor quality.
Pertinently, two doctors have already fallen to Covid-19 infection while a Nurse at SKIMS lost her husband. The husband had caught infection from his Nurse wife who was treating Covid-19 patients in the hospital.
“My husband was treated well at SKIMS but Almighty had other plans and he left for heavenly abode,” the nurse when contacted said.
When contacted, a top official from SKIMS said hat they are not now allowed to talk to the media.
“Whatever I will tell you is unofficial,” he said.
To a few questions, the official said: “There are over 200 Covid-19 patients admitted in the hospital and most of them are critically sick patients, with symptoms and surviving on Oxygen. Among these there may be 4 to 5 staffers. I actually don’t know the exact figure, but, yes 2 HoD’s are also Covid-19 positive,” he said adding there is too much work overload on SKIMS as compared to other hospitals.
“Patients admitted in other hospitals are asymptomatic and the task in these hospitals is very easy,” he added. (KNT)
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