Doctors and paramedics working with Covid-19 patients in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli district on Wednesday released videos purportedly highlighting the deplorable conditions at a government school in the district that has been turned into their living quarters, NDTV reported.
The healthcare professionals shared three videos showing the poor condition of the rooms. In the first video, a person identified as a health staff, showed around a room in which he and his colleagues sleep. “It is 3 am and there is no electricity,” he said in the video. “This is five-star class [but] not even a fan is working. Let me show you the common bathrooms here. The urinals have no pipes and the latrines are choked. This is our active quarantine.”
In the second video, a health worker showed the food served to him and his colleagues at the quarantine facility. “Look at this food being served to us,” he said. “Poori and sabzi are packed together in a polythene bag.”
In the last video, a healthcare worker, dressed in a personal protective suit, said that four people were being made to sleep in the same room and described it as a “totally wrong” practice in active quarantine. He also talked about the sub-par amenities at the school. “There are three bathrooms and all of them are choked,” he said. The man added that they were not even being served food and water regularly. “The authorities are giving a 20-litre water bottle for 25 of us every day.”
According to Dainik Bhaskar, the doctors alleged that the floor of the facility has huge pits that were not sanitised regularly. They also claimed that they have not been provided proper protective equipment.
The district’s Chief Medical Officer Dr SK Sharma told NDTV he found the facilities unsuitable and that the healthcare workers had been moved to another facility. “With the help of the administration, we have shifted them to a nearby guest house and we will ensure they have no issues with living condition or food and they can be fully satisfied and work,” he said.
Health workers, who are on the frontline of India’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic, face a high risk of infection. There have been complaints that the government has not provided them with adequate protective gear.
In several instances, health workers have also been physically attacked. On Wednesday, the Centre approved amendments to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 to make attacks on health workers a non-bailable offence which will carry an imprisonment from six months to seven years.
Uttar Pradesh has 1,449 cases of the coronavirus and 21 patients have died in the state, according to the Union health ministry.
The number of coronavirus patients in India rose to 21,373 on Thursday morning, but the Indian Council of Medical Research said at least 21,797 people have tested positive so far. The toll increased to 681, while the number of patients who have recovered stood at 4,257.
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