Health staff are also rapidly falling victim to the Covid epidemic this year. As of the beginning of this week alone, about 40 doctors and 243 nurses had been infected with the Covid virus.
A doctor at the Ragama Hospital and a health worker at the Ratnapura Hospital were killed in the second Covid wave. But at the time, the number of health workers infected with the virus was not so high.
Many health workers are at high risk for the current spread of the Covid virus. This is because they do not receive proper protection from the relevant authorities. Recently, the All Ceylon Nurses Association had revealed about the tragic situation at the Colombo National Hospital. This is due to the fact that they do not have proper surgical masks, the expiration of instant antibodies, the lack of protective clothing and so on. At present, about 30 nurses at the National Hospital are infected with Covid.
Meanwhile, we also heard from the Marawila Base Hospital that the health staff was at risk. The hospital currently has an acting hospital director.
The Intensive Care Unit of the Marawila Hospital has been closed due to the infection of two nurses. The hospital authorities immediately quarantined their first class comrades and closed the intensive care unit.
However, the hospital’s main operating theater remained open, performing emergency and general surgeries. It has about 40 health staff. Meanwhile, a rapid antigen test conducted on the 12th identified two nurses working here as positive. One of these nurses has five members in the household and all of them have been positive. The nurses are currently at the IDH Hospital. Thereafter, the entire hospital staff underwent PCR examination. All of them have undergone PCR examination and have returned to work till today (15).
But Kovid’s first-line nurses in the main operating theater have performed quarantine surgeries without quarantining or disinfecting it. These staff did not wear PPE kits (protective clothing) before the Kovid infected nurses were discovered. But after the two nurses were positive, they were told to wear these protective suits.
Meanwhile, the results of the PCR test have arrived today (15). According to them, 20 patients, including doctors, nurses, midwives and family health workers, have been identified as positive. This includes the operating room staff. What is special about this is that these people were also vaccinated against Covid.
After receiving the test reports today, those who were already working were sent home and the hospital authorities informed those who were still at home to stay at home.
Hospital staff say the main operating theater should be restricted to emergencies, at least temporarily, and at least temporarily closed and disinfected to ensure the safety of other medical staff and surgeons. Also in the entire hospital staff, to ensure the safety of patients.