Staff wearing protective gear common sight in hospitals

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 27

A number of medicos with thermal scanners, wearing face masks and covered in PPE kits can be seen working in Covid wards. If the pandemic has changed the way of living of the common man, it has also changed the way of working of medicos and the ancillary staff. Now they have become more cautious about their safety while discharging duties.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic one has to go through several health check-ups like checking of body temperature before entering a hospital. Escalating costs and face masks, PPE kit-clad staff are among the new normal in hospitals.

Dr Baljit Singh Johal, whose Johal hospital has received one confirmed case of Covid-19 and several suspected patients, says, “Covid is here to stay and its treatment is a costly affair which poor people cannot afford. We have calculated a rise of Rs 10 lakh in per month costs due to Covid. In the aftermath of a positive patient reported from the hospital, it cost me about Rs 35 lakh for quarantining staff, for 12 admitted patients who left as soon as they got to know that someone had tested positive, HR and other costs. For a week, there were no new admissions. We were also fleeced by vendors selling PPE kits, masks, etc in the beginning.”

Tagore Hospital, which has had one Covid patient so far, has built a triage centre and an isolation unit to keep the virus at bay.

At least three positive patients – two of them deceased – had reported to Kidney Hospital in Jalandhar. The hospital which has often been in the centre of the action surrounding Covid scans and screens every patient before entry.

Speaking out 

Our general costs have escalated by 20 per cent. X-rays have to be carried out and patients have to be isolated before being let in. There are hefty costs for sanitisers, masks, PPE kits and screens scanners. — Dr Baljit Singh Johal, Of Johal hospital

Covid is here to stay for a long time, maybe years and possibly it might mutate as previous viruses have done. Maybe we have further stages of the virus. It’s a battle which we all have to fight together. — Dr Rajiv Bhatia, nephrologist and director of Shreeman Hospital

Thankfully, the separated triage area, where we first screen and carry X-rays of suspected patients, has helped us keep Covid away. The treatment cost has risen considerably. This entire new process is here to stay. — Dr Vijay Mahajan, MD, Tagore Hospital

We voluntarily closed the hospital for five days when one of the patients tested positive. Covid is the new normal and all hospitals have to develop all protocols and infrastructure to battle it. It’s a war the medicos have got to fight. — Dr RS Chahal, Medical Director, Kidney Hospital, Jalandhar