Doctors, nurses face corona stigma in neighbourhood
NB: This kind of hostility toward those who are risking their lives to look after patients is an example of humans gripped by evil. Our caste system also fosters hostility and disgust toward those who do the most essential jobs, such as cleaning human waste. It is not peculiar to India: in the UK, nurses were spat upon whilst going to rescue patients. Such things remind us of how some people are incapable of appreciating the courage and devotion to duty being shown by medical professionals; and allowing instead our fear to overcome basic human empathy. What a shame. DS
Many
clapped Sunday to thank those at the frontline of the war
against coronavirus,
but the disease has also acquired a stigma with healthcare professionals
treating Covid-19 patients
not being allowed accommodation, doctors being trolled for pointing out
scarcity in protective gear, and even the dead being deprived of dignity. In Kolkata, a 30-year
old woman, who is part of the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric
Diseases (NICED) team which tests samples for coronavirus, was told by her
landlord in South Kolkata to leave the place. While she did not wish to be
named, sources close to her said, it was only after the intervention of NICED
authorities that the landlord let her stay on.
The nurses at a
reputed private hospital in Kolkata where a 55-year old man died of Covid-19 on
Monday were not so lucky. The hospital had to make alternate arrangement for 15
nurses after their landlord asked them to leave. A nurse, who did not wish to
be named, said, “We are already working overtime and are under a lot of stress.
If suddenly you hear from your landlord that you will have to leave, imagine
the shock. It is very hard to find alternate accommodation. We were lucky
because our hospital supported us.” In fact, when the
staff of the private hospital carried the body of the 55-year old man strictly
following health guidelines to Nimtolla crematorium, the locals not only raised
objections but also heckled the medical staff. The police and the Kolkata
municipal authorities finally ensured that the body was cremated.
In Rohtak, a Junior
Resident at Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post-Graduate Institute of Medical
Sciences, tweeted about the paucity of masks. The first of her tweets read:
“When they arrive, please send N95 masks and gloves to my grave. Taali aur
thali b baja dena waha! Regards, frustrated sarkari doctor”. A series of tweets by
Dr Kamna Kakkar (who is pursuing her Doctor of Medicine in Anaesthesiology and
Critical Care) on protective gear faced a backlash with BJP IT Cell chief Amit
Malviya questioning her credentials. Many called her “fake”. While she could not be
contacted, Dr Dhruv Chaudhary, a Nodal Officer for COVID-19 at PGIMS Rohtak and
Head of the Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, told The Indian Express, that doctors all over
were in need of more and more protective gear. “She was posted in a
trauma centre that day. One of her colleagues had a bit of a cough, and she got
scared. What she has flagged. there has been scarcity. you all know about it.,”
Dr Chaudhary said....
https://indianexpress.com/article/coronavirus/coronavirus-india-doctors-nurses-stigma-6330330/