After worms were found on the body of a patient discharged from the Medical College and charges of negligence flew thick and fast, the Health Department on Monday decided to permit bystanders for patients in COVID hospitals. Hospital superintendents have already been given directions to put in place a mechanism to judge the need for a bystander.

However, top health officials said not all COVID patients would get a bystander.

"Bystanders will be allowed by hospital superintendents only after assessing the condition of patients and the necessity of care," an official Health Department release said. "The requirement will be first examined by the COVID Board in the hospital," it added.

It is still not clear who can be a bystander. The official release and top sources just said that any relative could be a bystander. But it is common for families to hire people from human resource agencies to function as bystanders for a hospitalised member.

No one Onmanorama talked to could offer a clear reply on whether a hired hand could function as a bystnder for a COVID patient. "The person chosen as bystander should be healthy," was the general reply.

The official release further says that even those who had recovered from COVID could function as a bystander provided the person should have tested negative at least a month before. "Those volunteering to be bystanders should also provide a signed consent," the official statement said.

Another confusion is the announcement that PPE kits would be provided to bystanders. Given that a person cannot be in a PPE kit for more than four or five hours, it is not clear how a single bystander is to schedule the use of his or her PPE kit.

One source said that bystanders would be asked to stand outside the ward after their work inside is over. But sources also fear that if even ten such bystanders crowd outside the ward, the area could be rendered vulnerable.

The latest decision was prompted by what happened to Anil Kumar, a 61-year-old patient who was brought to the Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram with a collar-bone fracture but contracted COVID-19 from the hospital and had to be shifted to the COVID-19 ward.

After he was discharged, worms were found thriving under his collar brace. It came to light that his collar brace was not removed and cleaned while he was at the COVID ward.

Disciplinary action was taken but the doctors and nurses took the stand that it was staff shortage that led to such a situation. It is said that Ward 6, where the COVID patient was allegedly abandoned, was a large ward with over 60 patients and just four nursing assistants to take care of all of them.

It is now hoped that bystanders would make up for staff inadequacy.