Staff safety a priority, says PGI after workers demand action for negligence
An upset workers union wrote to the SSP after two workers were infected with the virus
Contract workers of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, have written to the city’s police chief demanding that an FIR be registered against the institute’s administration for their negligence due to which two workers have been infected with Covid-19.
However, the institute has stated that extensive measures have been undertaken for safety of its staff at all levels.
Chairman of PGIMER’s contract workers union, in a letter to UT’s senior superintendent of police, has stated that officials of the institute failed to establish standard operation procedures and did not draw a road-map for dealing with patients up to April 2. As a result, they said, two healthcare workers have been infected.
Although the institute has not responded to the allegations, a separate press release quotes the institute’s director Dr Jagat Ram on the matter. “It goes without saying that the safety of our front line warriors is of utmost importance to us. We, in PGIMER, currently follow a roster system wherein a health care worker (HCW) performs duty for 7 days in the Covid unit, during which they stay in designated isolation rooms within PGIMER campus after their daily shifts,” says the director in the press release.
The statement adds that after seven days of duty, HCWs are quarantined in single occupancy rooms, either within the campus or at off-site hotels specifically designated for this purpose by the UT administration. This roster, however, is subject to change based on trends of Covid containment in India and subsequent requirement of health care workers.