Nagaland Healthcare workers question clarification on PPE

Our Reporter
Dimapur, April 19 (EMN): Healthcare workers in one of the district hospitals have questioned the claim made by officials from Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK) that the “sub-standard quality of personal protection equipment (PPE) and mouldy masks” were to be used by medical personnel for mock-drill and practice.

Anonymity was requested, for both the workers as well as the district hospital, as the state government had issued an order on April 15 restricting employees, other than those authorised, to speak to the media in issues related to Covid-19.

One of the workers questioned how such ‘huge quantity’ of PPE provided to the district hospitals—‘with only a few healthcare workers’—across the state could be used for mock-drill and practice.

“The PPE received were of very poor quality especially the masks, which was worse than a market carry bag,” said the worker.

The source maintained that for demonstration purpose or mock-drill such amount of PPE was not required.

“The government has clarified that good quality PPE has been ordered, which is yet to receive. But the government should have accepted the error and not try to cover up”, the source stated.

It may be mentioned that the minister for Health and Family Welfare, S Pangnyu Phom, had recently directed the department’s principal director to ‘recall all inferior quality PPE and other medical equipment with immediate effect and replace with good quality materials’.

Submit written complaints — Government

Home Commissioner Abhijit Sinha, in his daily Covid-19 update on Sunday, observed that there has been recent reports of some doctors and health workers raising objections about the quality of PPE and other medical accessories issued to them by the Health department.

‘It has now been decided that the doctors and health workers raising apprehensions about the quality of PPE and medial accessories will submit reasons specifying the quality parameters which they feel are not as per the standards recommended in writing to the controlling officers concerned; and the Health department will issue new PPE and other medical accessories as replacement of all such purported inferior quality materials,” he informed.

Further, the respective deputy commissioners will collect all such returned PPE and medical items and keep under their safe custody until further orders, Sinha said.