Medical interns were asked to report for duty at a CCC2 facility on Kalina today. I volunteered to drop one of them who is known to me. She doesnt have a car and wasn’t getting a cab or an auto. First they were asked to come to Prabhat Colony, then to Kolekalyan Police Quarters.
Then to Vakola Police Station and finally to H E Ward office. This kind of hopping is not easy even during normal times. Can you imagine how tough it might have gotten for this intern, carrying a month’s worth of luggage, to go from one place to another?
After reaching H E ward office around noon, they were told to go eat in the canteen. I dont want to show you how dirty the canteen, its tables and benches are but here’s a photo of the wash basin. So many wise men in that office, not one could get a tap fixed at the right height!
Some of the interns ate, my friend didn’t. After that “lunch”, they were asked to wait again for a car that might come to fetch them. One Wagon R for four interns who were carrying luggage. Luckily I and another girl’s brother hung around in our cars and we managed.
We reached the facility. It is a newly constructed building. No one around to guide them. They go to the first floor and speak to some woman who turns out to be on of the two nurses who have come yesterday or today. She calls a person who is an engineer who opens two rooms.
The rooms have nothing in them, no beds, no tables, no cupboards, no stove and for a room with 3 women and bombay’s summer, no CURTAINS! It is full of dust and the engineer refuses to deploy labour or give anything to clean the construction dust.
The kitchen platform. 
The room.
One room, only one room, has a cupboard. Where are these women going to store their clothes? Their essentials? Snacks, if any? Or books? Are they supposed to live off a suitcase in a room that they can’t even lock?
After much requests, beds have arrived. But no one will clean the rooms or provide a storage unit . As with toxic men all over the world, they either refuse to acknowledge their words or simply say no to any requests. No one knows if there will be mattresses on these beds.
These kids are essentially the government’s first line of defence to control the pandemic. I wonder if @OfficeofUT or any other official from @mybmc would have liked it if they were ever made to wait this long for bare essentials. No one has even bothered of they have eaten.
The least someone could do is bring them some water, a little bit of tea and something to munch, a few plastic chairs so that they dont have to sit on the dirty floor. They have yet to be told the protocol, how to wear/renove a PPE, and so on.
Compared to other hospital wards where there aren’t working fans, this is a reasonably better place, but the least they could do is keep it equipped before hand instead of keeping doctors waiting and treating them like cattle.
Things have begun moving after some arguments. A kettle, a mag and a bucket have arrived. So sad that this is what it takes to get things moving. Even at a time like this. Sadly none can be used till the time the room is cleaned. And by cleaned it means - SANITIZED!
Healthcare in India is a joke. You treat doctors like shit, threaten them with license cancellation notices, provide unsanitary workspaces and expect them to save lives. Would you give a soldier a butter knife and ask him to stand on the frontlines while bullets rain on him?
Shame on you @mybmc .
Only two beds as yet for four people. More than 6 hour wait to get their rooms cleaned. Getting it sanitized is a far shot which am guessing they have given up on. Nothing provided to eat as yet @OfficeofUT @mybmc you don’t deserve the loyalty and patience of our doctors.
No drinking water since 2:30 pm. Not a drop. No food. Maybe they want doctors to first fall aick and then treat patients. Maybe this is how we will flatten the curve. @OfficeofUT send your privileged little son @AUThackeray to manage this atleast.
Almost 6 hours, no food or water. Lousy cleaning, no beds, no chairs, no tables, no mats, and a room that can’t be locked. A kitchen full of dust, commodes and bathrooms that are filthy. Where are your thalis and diyas for our corona warriors?
I have no words. Friends tell me it is pointless to even get angry at this. Please read. Food and water has arrived NOW. They are sitting and eating in the dusty corridor. More doctors will be posted tomorrow, I hope atleast they and the patients are treated better.
And now the water has gone off.
Update - yesterday the cleaning staff came at 930 pm, 7 hours after asking for it. Some water, snacks and essentials were dropped off last night via @Iamrahulkanal . Still awaiting a storage unit, curtains, a chair or two, clothes drying rack/wire and a lock for their room.
And voila, the docs have made their own curtains with their bedsheets 😤🤬
For every idiot who writes paeans about the INDIAN JUGAAD system, let it be heard loud and clear that jugaad, or a quick fix is at most times nothing but a hurdle in the deployment of long term solutions.
For every idiot who writes paeans about the INDIAN JUGAAD system, let it be heard loud and clear that jugaad, or a quick fix is at most times nothing but a hurdle in the deployment of long term solutions.
Forget the doctors for a brief few seconds. Nursing staff, who reached before them, who will eventually go on to be more exposed to any positive cases had to clean their own room. These spaces have to be sanitized, not cleaned by healthcare workers with a mop and a broom
Update - curtains are put, but Doffing room is a mess, biomedical waste management should've been the most important thing to execute with minimum loose ends. Organisation and supply of essentials on first day with 30 kits was fine but now it’s haywire.
Update - Our used OT gowns/scrubs remain in buckets we've soaked ourselves in hypochlorite. No idea what is to be done to wash and dry it. The doffing room l has only two plastic dustbins and used PPE strewn on the floor. Just 1 box of gloves and one sanitiser for ourselves.
Update - a lot of good things too have happened. New doormats have been placed, doctors rooms are now being sanitized (not just cleaned) twice a day, food is finally arriving on time, induction stoves and a clothes drying line have been procured and now for the pots!
@Iamrahulkanal @AUThackeray @OfficeofUT @mybmc the doctors still don’t have any way to wash and hang their clothes. They have a lot of packets of kurkure which are not good for them. If you can provide them soap and a brush to wash clothes that would be great.
@Iamrahulkanal @AUThackeray @OfficeofUT @mybmc and maybe some fruits, ready to eat packets of poha, upma. Maybe some chai patti and milk powder to make tea once they are done with their long shifts.
The apathy of this entire situation amazes and saddens me in equal measure. It is now the 6th day since the doctors were posted here and while they have been given a whole carton of junk food, the essentials still remain unsolved while they are going hoarse requesting.
Exactly a week today since the start of this facility. Yesterday @shrutipathak9 bought washing soap and fruits which I dropped off for the docs. 6 doctors, 6 nurses, no soap to wash clothes and now have no place to hang the washed clothes so they dry on chairs. So hygienic!
Update - No consistent water supply. Comes for an hour and stops. When they come back from working in PPE kits, they can't shower and sit in potentially infected clothes until water comes. Laundry ropes still not installed. This is shameful @mybmc @AUThackeray @OfficeofUT
They’ve run out of N95 masks/medicines and had to wear 2 surgical masks on rounds today. Most housekeeping staff wear 1 cloth mask. BMC still hasn't supplied anything. Whatever came, has come from the police dept, and they can't send stock enough to last for the coming weeks.
One week and not even a place to hang clothes but they do have “Kurkure and Noodles” courtesy @Iamrahulkanal @AUThackeray
And a whole load of government apathy, laziness and ineptitude. We probably don’t deserve our medicos but our doctors certainly deserve better than this.
And a whole load of government apathy, laziness and ineptitude. We probably don’t deserve our medicos but our doctors certainly deserve better than this.
