Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, May 9: Doctors treating coronavirus patients in different hospitals of the Valley have demanded separate hotel accommodation as they fear bringing the virus home.
While talking to the Excelsior the doctors from the leading hospitals of the Valley including Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) and Shri Maharaja Hari Singh hospital (SMHS), shared their fears and worries of carrying the infection back home and into the communities.
“There is a high probability for us to get infected while on duty, and that puts our families at risk. Like last year, authorities should give us some sort of accommodation at hostels, near our workplace. This will prevent the spread of the virus,” doctors working in the SMHS hospital told Excelsior.
There are around 60 such doctors in SMHS who perform their duties on rotation in the nine COVID wards of the hospitals and directly deal with the positive patients. They have appealed administration that hostel facilities are given to those on the front lines.
The doctors from other hospitals echoed similar concerns. “As soon as I get home, I jump straight into the shower. I know it can be devastating if I infect my family. I have isolated myself, but I still fear for my old age parents. Sometimes, I think of quitting this job for my family. But I risk my family for others,” a doctor said, adding that providing accommodation to the doctors is the need of the hour.
Principal Government Medical College Srinagar, Samia Rasheed, told Excelsior that they will redress the issue soon as they have taken it up with the Government. “We are already on it. We expect we will resolve the issue in a few days,” she said.
Sources, however, told Excelsior that the issue might persist for some time as the Government is yet to issue payments to the hotels that were roped in last year for the accommodation of these doctors, “Until Government doesn’t release their payments, they won’t open their hotels for doctors. The government should clear pending bills of the hotel owners if they are serious about it,” an official source told Excelsior.
President Doctors Association, Dr Suhail Naik, told Excelsior that the Government’s reluctance to provide hostel facilities to the doctors is taking a double toll on them. “First we ask them to perform extra duty and then force to go home. This increases the susceptibility of their family members,” he said.
He pointed out that the separate accommodation is important for the psychological stability of all the frontline workers. “The virus sticks to clothes, hands, mobile or any other thing and it’s very hard to keep it away. When a doctor reaches home, the fear of infecting family is always in his head and that takes a toll on the psyche. It is important to provide accommodation to a doctor so that he no longer sees himself as a threat to his family,” he said.
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