On April 6, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai a containment zone after as many as 26 nurses and three doctors tested positive for COVID-19 in a span of a week.
Earlier too, nurses in the hospital complained about the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the general ICU ward at Wockhardt where suspected patients were admitted. The nurses were not provided PPE and surgical masks and were discouraged from wearing masks in the non-COVID-19 section of the hospital to avoid spreading panic among general patients.
On April 6, the jan swasthya abhiyan, Mumbai; united nurses association, Maharashtra; clinical nursing research society; and nursing and paramedical staff union, Mumbai, wrote a letter to municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi on the issues and safety concerns being faced by the frontline nurses in Mumbai while treating COVID-19 patients. In the letter, they demanded that hospitals ensure adequate supply of PPE across the state along with taking steps to ensure safety of all nursing staff by putting in place proper infection control and triaging protocols. Additionally, in the letter, it was also mentioned that nurses posted in COVID-19 ward or isolation should be formally given training in working in such wards, and must offered access to mental health and counselling services.
"We have recently received an account of a Mumbaikar’s experience in the course of being tested and then treated for COVID-19 which elaborates on the consequences of breaching privacy and confidentiality of those tested positive for COVID-19," said Kamayani Mahabal from Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, and a signatory to the letter sent to BMC. “The BMC has launched an app which raises serious concerns regarding privacy, including how long users’ data will be stored and how it will be secured, as currently there are no safeguards for data protection. Such information will only lead to greater fear and hostility instead of cooperation and solidarity which is much needed at this time,” the letter noted.
"How is the app reliable in tracking the pathogen when we do do not currently know the transmission model and the location data does not reflect transmission behaviours or reliable risk. Communities largely don’t have the awareness or tools to appropriately manage a response and such actions can often give way to fear and discrimination," said Ranjana Athavale from the nursing and paramedical staff union and a co-signatory to the letter.
They also demanded that the BMC desist from any practice that reveals the identity and personal details of people infected with COVID-19 and revoke any orders that breach the confidentiality of persons diagnosed with COVID-19. They demanded an apology from authorities to the persons who have been harmed due to the reckless way in which their confidentiality and privacy were breached.
Meanwhile, Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai issued a statement saying, “We would like to place on record the fact that the first COVID-19 positive case got admitted on the 27th of March 2020 at Wockhardt Hospitals, South Mumbai. The statements are baseless and do not reflect the facts. We are adhering to all the guidelines laid down to tackle COVID-19 based on the policies of the municipal health authorities. We have adopted all the safety and precautionary measures and are also providing appropriate personal protective equipment and prophylactic medications for our hospital staff."
