Medical staff at Mumbai hospital protest after COVID-19 death

Mumbai: Medical staff including nurses and paramedical employees at a municipal hospital staff in Mumbai staged a protest on Wednesday demanding they be quarantined after the death of a COVID-19 patient at the facility.

Employees of the K B Bhabha Municipal General Hospital in suburban Bandra gathered outside the hospital and staged a protest, after a woman undergoing treatment there died due to COVID-19 infection, a staff union functionary said.

The hospital staffers are demanding that they be quarantined as there is a serious risk of spread of COVID-19 in the facility.

Two private hospitals in Mumbai have been sealed after some medical staff members there tested coronavirus positive.

A union leader said the employees have demanded that staff be quarantined as some of them came in direct contact with the woman.

The leader said around 450 staffers work at the hospital. They include nurses, ward boys, sweepers and other paramedical staff, he said.

“The hospital management kept us in dark even after they learnt that the woman had tested coronavirus positive,” he said.

According to hospital staffers, the woman was kept in general ward for females for a couple of days and shifted to the casualty ward after her condition worsened.

Some staff members also raised the issue of ‘poor quality’ of personal protection equipment (PPE) given to them.