The third wave of Kovid is spreading rapidly in the country. The number of patients reported yesterday (27) exceeded one thousand. Nearly 8,000 people have been hospitalized. All these patients are treated by the health staff. Patients can be treated as long as they are safe. If they also become infected with the virus, they will lack the medical staff needed to treat patients. Therefore, it is important to be concerned about the safety of health staff.
Therefore, the All Ceylon Nurses Association has issued a media statement requesting the government to provide the necessary facilities for the safety of health staff, including nurses.
A third wave of Kovid is currently spreading across the country and a large number of people are recognizing the hospital system, the association said.
As at the first and second Kovid rallies, the Kovid patients are being directly confronted by the health staff, including nurses, and although it is true that the wrong policies and decisions of the government caused the third Kovid wave, they still do not seem to be working to rectify those shortcomings. The statement said.
The government and health authorities have announced that they will cut back on PPE and other essential equipment as well as special leave that staff have been providing to health staff for the past few months, as well as end the service patrol and special leave given to health staff by April 30. The All Ceylon Nurses’ Association points out that a large number of health workers, including nurses, are infected with corona in the country’s hospital system today.
The All Ceylon Nurses’ Association points out that by 25.04.2021, another group including 7 nurses of the Intensive Care Unit of the Trincomalee Hospital had contracted the Kovid virus and that a group of health staff including a nurse at the Sri Lanka National Hospital had been infected with the Kovid. Hospitals are also receiving complaints about safety measures being taken against identified patients.
On the 23rd of this month, a patient identified as Corona from the Kotelawala Defense College Hospital was admitted to the Kalubowila Teaching Hospital without any responsibility, causing a number of serious problems at the Kalubowila Hospital. The association states that two infected persons were admitted to the Kalubowila Hospital on April 25 as normal patients.
The association emphasizes that the health authorities, who have been silent for the past few months, as well as the Corona Control Center, think that corona is a virus that entered the country yesterday and that it is very clear that a very serious corona virus pandemic is spreading now. It is the responsibility of the government and the health authorities to ensure that the hospital system provides all the equipment needed to safely care for patients, including nurses, who are directly involved in the delivery.
The announcement further said that if the government employs health staff with a systematic work plan and transport facilities as previously followed, it will be easier for health staff to control the spreading corona epidemic. .