New Delhi: With the Bihar state government’s apparent failure to make adequate arrangements for doctors and other health workers who have been infected with COVID-19 while on duty, the fraternity has now decided to set up a facility for and by themselves.
According to a report recently published by the Bihar chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), over 300 health professionals, and among them 150 doctors, have been infected with COVID-19 so far. Of them, nine doctors have succumbed to the infection.
The Federal news website has published a report stating that the doctors in Bihar have for a long time been demanding that at least 50% of the beds be reserved for them at AIIMS, Patna. While the government did not pay heed to their urgent demand, the doctors have come forward to develop their own COVID-19 care facility in the state capital to treat infected doctors.
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The doctors have been raising the pitch for such a facility citing the concern that if the state does not take adequate measures to take care of doctors treating COVID-19 patients, it will have larger repercussions on the state’s capacity to fight the virus.
Bihar residents are already grappling with the poor healthcare system and rapidly increasing cases of viral infection, in addition to widespread floods.
Several doctors, health workers, and technicians working at top hospitals across Bihar like the PMCH, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH), Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (IGIMS), Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) – all at Patna, along with the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital (JLNMCH) at Bhagalpur, Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH) at Gaya, and Sri Krishna Memorial College and Hospital at Muzaffarpur have been infected with the virus.
The IMA has raised concerns over this and has sought the state’s immediate intervention.