Doctors are signing petitions that have reached thousands of signatures asking for protection while caring for the infected, asking for tests for frontline NHS staff as a priority.The petition has reached almost 400,000 signatures as we went to press.
Dr Amir Khan GP in a tweet said, “I think it’s important to recognise the efforts of health care professionals during this time. They are working hard on the frontline, often putting themselves at risk for the sake of others.” GPs have moved to virtual patient appointments, to avoid face to face contacts.
Nishant Joshi, an A&E doctor urged other frontline healthcare workers to speak up about the risks they are facing from lack of adequate protective equipment and the government’s decision to not test even symptomatic NHS workers.
He told the Evening Standard “Everyone is scared to speak up publicly.”
Speaking about the risks they face, he said, “I’m treating patients who are perhaps presenting for a broken ankle and they suddenly start coughing all over you. You’re breathing in an aerosol spray of droplets and we’re not even wearing a mask – just scrubs and a plastic apron.”
He then added that he had escalated his concerns to hospital management and they were doing their best to address the problems. “So many of my friends are doctors, nurses and healthcare workers on the frontline. We are all prepared to do that. But it’s not going to just be a question of sacrificing ourselves, it’s the risk we pose to everyone we come into contact with which includes some of the most vulnerable people in Britain?”
Speaking to Asian Voice, an Indian-origin A&E doctor, now looking after coronavirus patients and who did not want to be named said his hospital is doing their best to address the issues, but nothing more can be done currently, “We cannot stop the disease from spreading. It will peak and die down once a certain proportion of the population is infected and eventually becomes immune. The cost of more draconian measures far outweigh the benefits and the government is making informed decision taking into account the epidemiology of the disease, behaviour of human beings and the medical outcomes. We already have confirmed cases in our hospital and self-isolating all those exposed to the patients for 14 days would mean over 150 staff not coming in to work for that long, basically paralysing all critical services. So to be practical they have told us all to continue coming to work even though we have been exposed and self-isolate only if we get symptoms.”
But another doctor of Asian-origin who also did not want to be named added, “The advise to self-isolate is so loose and applies to those with very strict criteria but not their partners etc. They’ve just accepted that the disease will spread and kill some people and that’s not ok!”
