In 20 days, over 500 deliveries in Latur pvt hospitals, but no PPE suits for medical staff

Latur district has nearly 180 private hospitals and given the lack of PPE kits right now, doctors of these hospitals say they are carrying out normal and caesarian deliveries without PPE. “In our study done during the lockdown period of 20 days, we have found that over 500 deliveries have taken place in private hospitals. All the deliveries, be it normal or caesarian, have taken place without the medical staff wearing the safety gear,” said Dr Kalyan Barmade, president of Latur OBGYN Society.

Dr Barmade said private hospitals have not been able to get PPE kits as the stock has run out in Latur district. “It seems like all of them have been acquired by the district administration for the two government hospitals, which have been designated for COVID-19 patients,” he said.

“For C-section deliveries, five medical staff, including doctors and nurses, are usually present. Similarly, for normal deliveries, at least three medical staff are present. All of them have to carry out their duties without PPE and they fear there is a risk to their lives as well to the lives of the mother and child,” he said.

On the shortage of PPE kits, Dr D N Mandade, of Mandade hospital in Latur, said, “Though we do not have PPE kits, we use the same kits for child deliveries that we use for other operations. It is true that there is shortage of PPE in Latur, but I have learnt that soon they will be available in the district.”

A local stockist, on condition of anonymity, said, “We had the stock when the lockdown was announced, but we have exhausted it. We are awaiting fresh deliveries from our dealers”.

District Collector G Shrikant, however, said as per recent guidelines, only doctors dealing with COVID-19 patients have to wear PPE. He also said his administration has acquired nearly 7,000 PPE kits from stockists in Latur. “As per government protocol, only those doctors who directly come in contact with COVID-19 patients or those collecting swabs have to wear PPE. It is not supposed to be used by all the doctors who are not connected with COVID-19 patients. If that happens, it would be difficult to get PPE as every hospital will purchase hundreds of them,” he said.

“Nine medical staff work in three shifts. Each one of them require PPE kits. We have to ensure that even in the future, we are sufficiently stocked,” he said.

Stating that he has so far not seen ICMR guidelines on the use of such kits, the collector said,”We are going by the government guidelines regarding PPE that were issued in March. I will see what ICMR guidelines state.”

Dr Barmade said PPE equipment includes a protective suit, N-95 mask, goggles and shoe cover. “The price ranges from Rs 1,200 to 1,500,” he said.