79 Doctors In Hyd Test Positive For Covid-19

As many as 79 government doctors tested positive for Covid-19 in Hyderabad in the last two weeks, according to a Resident Doctors Association.

According to the latest reports, four doctors and three paramedics in the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) tested positive for Coronavirus last Saturday.

“Over 49 doctors at Osmania Medical College, 26 at NIMS, and 4 at Gandhi Medical College tested positive so far. Lab staffers, nurses and paramedics also tested positive.”

Dr. G Srinivas, president of NIMS Resident Doctors Association, said that doctors and staff at the hospitals need more protective gear. “There are reports that doctors of private hospitals are also testing positive and are undergoing treatment at the hospitals where they are working,” he said.

The healthcare workers at the government medical colleges and hospitals blamed the government for exposing them to Covid-19 by not doing sufficient tests, even after the High Court admonished the officials on the same issue.

It is the responsibility of the government to test more as many doctors and health workers are at risk, said the president of a doctors’ association.

“Testing is like an early warning system. The government is putting the life of doctors and other healthcare workers at risk by not conducting enough tests,” he said.

It must be noted that the Telangana government’s daily health bulletins are not making any mention of the number of samples tested on any given day. In such a situation, the Telangana High Court has directed the state government to submit testing figures but it did not do it. The HC again warned the Telangana government not to dodge its orders and warned of issuing contempt notices to the state health department if its earlier orders (issued on May 26) on testing were not followed.

Senior doctors and public health experts say it is alarming as doctors in the three main hospitals in the city had tested positive.

“This means a large number of people visiting the hospitals are carrying the virus and they are not aware of it because no tests have been done in the area from which they come from,” a senior doctor pointed out.

However, Telangana health minister Etala Rajender claims that the government has provided quality PPEs to doctors.