IMA demands 8 hours COVID duty time, quarantine for doctors during Omicron
Delhi: In order to ensure the safety of medical professionals on the onslaught of Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, Indian Medical Association has demanded that the COVID duty of resident doctors should not exceed 8 hours per day. IMA pointed out that there are greater chances of medical professionals being infected as Omicron is easily 5.4 times more infectious than the delta variant stating that the government must take measures to safeguard the life of the doctors.
IMA also suggested that after 7 days of duty, there should be a quarantine of 10 to 14 days in the accommodation prescribed by the hospital. IMA also requested the public to not panic but to stay alert about the situation.
In a recent press release, Dr. Sahajanand Prasad Singh, National President, IMA stated, " Around 2000 doctors died during the second wave of COVID. The mortality rate in the country was around 1.5% among the general population and around 2-3% among healthcare workers. According to this estimate, corona occurred in about 100,000 doctors."
While assuring that the mortality in the third wave is expected to be low, IMA also highlighted the issue that the Omicron variant is more infectious than the delta variant, and due to the high exposure of Healthcare to Covid patients in clinics and hospitals, doctors are expected to have 5 to 10 times more Covid infections than the general public. " In many big medical colleges/hospitals of the country have a large number of medical staff, especially doctors, have been found infected. So that the health infrastructure can crumble due to the shortage of sick doctors", added the association.
Hence, to ensure the safety of doctors, the backbones of our healthcare, IMA suggested to the State Governments or the Central Government associated with the concerned medical college to formulate some rules like not exceeding the COVID duty of resident doctors for more than 8 hours per day and 7 days, after which there should be a quarantine of 10 to 14 days in the accommodation prescribed by the hospital.
Mental Health of Doctors- Priority
IMA further stated that there should also be a provision for taking care of their mental health and in the event of a COVID duty doctor becoming ill, government/private hospitals should be admitted to the respective hospital at the earliest. Moreover, in the case of untimely death, the status of COVID martyr and compensation as well as, case-wise assistance should be arranged.
Commenting on the issue, IMA JDN Joint Secretary, Dr Shankul Dwivedi stated, " Considering the rapid cases of doctors being infected in line of duty, it is essential to take care of the mental health of the doctors. IMA has requested central government and state governments to create provisions for ensuring the safety of the doctors."
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