About 30 doctors and paramedics at the PGIMER here are in quarantine after coming in contact with an infected patient. But that has not kept others from continuing the fight against coronavirus.
They are worried, however, about spreading the dreaded infection to their families.
Dr Uttam Thakur from the Department of Surgery has moved out of his home, which is in the PGIMER complex itself.
I share a room in the hostel with a colleague who is also on duty. For over 15 days, I haven't gone home, which is 100 metres from the hostel where I stay, he told PTI.
"As my job involves coming into contact with so many patients, I don't want to put my family at risk, he added.
His colleague Dr Satyaswaroop Tripathi, an assistant professor at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, has placed a bucket and tub outside the main living area at his home.
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In one he dumps his work clothes. He uses the water in the other to take a quick bath before entering.
Five doctors and about 25 others nurses, attendants and sanitation workers -- were sent into quarantine after a 65-year-old patient, initially being treated for H1N1, tested positive for coronavirus.
Some of them were apparently not wearing protective gear when they performed a procedure to help the patient when he was in respiratory distress.
The doctors and paramedics who got exposed are in quarantine and treated like other patients. They take their own blood pressure and body temperature and are provided food there, he said.
Meanwhile, others at the hospital, a prestigious institute that receives patients from Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana, get on with the job.
Asked if there was enough personal protection equipment (PPE) at the hospital, Thakur said, The shortage is worldwide, including in India. We are not complaining that we don't have this or that, he said, adding that the doctors will continue to do their work.
At this time of a national crisis, we are not demanding anything but we have a few suggestions, he said. Among them is more testing kits to isolate more suspected cases.
We need more PPEs, the PGI does not have hazmat suits, he said, referring to gear that covers most of the body. He asked who will take care of the patients if doctors and paramedics themselves fall sick.
Thakur, who is president of the Association of Resident Doctors at PGIMER, reminded that COVID-19 patients often show symptoms of common flu, making it hard to diagnose the disease.
It is also possible that patients may not show any adverse symptom but still turn out to be positive, or their attendant could be infected, he said.
We are fighting a war in which the enemy is invisible, Thakur said, adding that even when they get to know it is coronavirus there is no specific treatment.
Suspected coronavirus patients report to the Emergency.
When a patient is confirmed COVID-19 positive, doctors approach him in their protective gear and the patient is kept in isolation, he said.
The number of work hours has not gone up, but the work is dangerous. Worldwide figures show that mortality rate among healthcare professionals is higher because they usually get infected from symptomatic patients, he said.
His colleague Satyaswaroop Tripathi recommended extending the nationwide lockdown beyond April 14 to minimise the caseload at hospitals.
Tripathi admitted that the PGI needed more of some equipment, like ventilators, but said this does not deter him. He is fully prepared to tackle any situation.
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