Kerala CM requests solidarity with nurses as large numbers test postive for COVID-19

Kerala CM requests solidarity with nurses as large numbers test postive for COVID-19

Thiruvananthapuram: Even as gratitude pours in hailing the service and sacrifice of nurses on World Health Day, healthcare workers across the world are faced with the dilemma of not having enough protective gear to go about their duties and help tackle the threat posed by coronavirus.

Amid reports that more than 50 healthcare workers from Kerala have tested positive for coronavirus in the country, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan sent letters to his counterparts in Delhi and Maharashtra to ensure the safety of nurses working in those states.

"I request that the concerned state governments may be advised to urgently look into the facts and circumstances... and provide due care, attention and necessary precautions so that the standard health protocols are followed and utmost protection is given to the health personnel who are rendering valuable service to our society," Pinarayi said in the letter.

"We are receiving frantic telephone calls from them (nurses). Many of them are informing us that there is a lack of adequate precaution to prevent the contagion of the disease. In this hour of crisis, the nation needs to stand with them and give them the confidence which they have been giving all along to others," Pinarayi added.

A letter has also been sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the matter.

The nurses' association too have sent letters to the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Kerala to look into the issue.

Seven Keralite nurses were among the 18 staff members who tested positive for coronavirus at Delhi's State Cancer Institute. It has since been sealed off and hospital authorities are making efforts to shift its patients to another private hospital in the city.

Twenty four healthcare personnel of the hospital have been asked to be in home quarantine, the Cancer Institute's medical superintendent Dr BL Sherwal informed.

Doctors from AIIMS, Safdarjung and Mohalla Clinics have also tested positive for the infection in the last few days.

In Mumbai, several Keralite nurses working at the Wockhardt Hospital were among the 29 who tested positive for coronavirus on Monday. The Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation has declared the hospital as containment zone and it has been sealed off.

According to The Times of India, 265 nurses from the hospital are currently under observation. 

Forty-six Keralite nurses have tested positive for the virus in Mumbai and more than 150 are under observation in India.

Kerala is one of the world's largest contributors to the talent pool of nurses, not just in the country, but also the world.

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