Another disaster in the third wave: 800 doctors of Delhi's hospitals are Covid positive, if the infection spreads like this, it will be difficult to get treatment.

“Government can buy ventilators, hospitals, oxygen, beds, buildings by paying everything, but doctors cannot be bought in a jiffy by paying money. It takes a decade to become a resident doctor. I am also one of the 700-800 doctors who have tested positive. We have been given a quarantine of only 7 days, after that, it is being advised to join duty without any test. The Healthcare system will be strong only when doctors themselves are healthy.

This is the pain of Rohan Krishnan, resident doctor of Delhi's ESI Hospital. Rohan is currently Covid positive and like Rohan, Covid infection is spreading rapidly among doctors in Delhi's hospital. More than 800 doctors of only 5 major hospitals of Delhi have become Covid positive. Doctors and paramedical staff who came in contact with positive doctors are also in isolation. The health system has been badly affected due to a large number of healthcare workers getting positive. Routine checkups, OPDs, and unnecessary surgeries have been stopped in the hospital.

The worst condition in hospitals is in AIIMS Delhi. Sources have told that around 350 resident doctors working in AIIMS have become Covid positive. This number is only of Covid positive resident doctor, if the faculty, paramedical staff are added, then this figure will become very big.

Doctors say that 'the effect of such a large number of hospital and paramedical staff getting infected with Covid has been that outpatient services, routine admission, and surgery in Delhi AIIMS have been stopped'. About 150 resident doctors have been found positive.

The same situation is also with other big hospitals in Delhi. Sources in Safdarjung Hospital also said that around 80-100 doctors are positive. More than 100 doctors of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital are also Covid positive. On the other hand, 50-70 resident doctors of Lok Nayak Hospital and 150 resident doctors of Lady Hardinge Medical College are Covid positive.

According to the circular issued by the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday, healthcare workers working in government hospitals will not be isolated if they come in contact with a Covid positive person. Such healthcare workers should work with tight masks and maintain maximum social distance.

Manish Jangra, the resident doctor of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, says, 'The government should reconsider the quarantine guidelines. Now more than 700 doctors have become Covid positive. All healthcare workers should not be called on duty at the same time. Doctors should be called in two or three parts, so that if the doctors of any shift get infected, then another team can replace them.

Doctors say that hospitals are already facing a shortage of resident doctors due to delays in NEET-PG counseling. At this time the government should recruit more doctors and change its guidelines.

Dr. Rohan Krishnan, President of Federation of All India Medical Association, says that in the third wave of coronavirus, three things are missing in our health policy- First, the hospital administration is not making the right rules for doctors. Second, during the second wave all OPDs and surgeries except emergency were stopped, but this time it was not done. Due to this, doctors are being exposed to more corona. Third, the hospital is facing a shortage of PPE kits, protective gear, N95 masks for protection from the corona. Very few protective kits are being given to the doctors.

Corona cases are increasing rapidly in Delhi. On January 9, more than 22 thousand new cases of Covid were reported in Delhi, while 17 people died. The worrying thing is that the positivity rate has reached near 25%. This means that out of every 4 samples that go for every test, 1 sample is coming positive.

The way more hospitalizations were seen in the second wave with the delta variant, there is no hospitalization in the third wave, but as the daily cases are increasing, the hospitalization is increasing. Covid beds in Delhi's hospital have been filled by more than 10%. At the same time, the number of patients on oxygen beds is increasing rapidly.