Cleaning staff on Covid duty faces social boycott

Kozhikode:

P Sicily

, a

daily wage cleaning staff

, is facing protest from her neighbors and residents in her area. Her fault — she completed duty in

Covid-19 isolation ward

of

Kozhikode government medical college hospital

converted as

Covid speciality hospital

.

Sicily, 56, said that people asked her to go back to the hospital when she reached her home on May 4. “I reached home after undergoing 14 days of mandatory quarantine and after a gap of more than a month,” she said.

Sicily worked at the Covid-19 isolation wards and rooms from April 1 to 10 and underwent 14 days mandatory quarantine at the isolation facility arranged by the Kozhikode government medical college hospital (KGMCH) authorities till April 24. “I rejoined duty in the general ward on April 26 and continued till May 3. But I was greeted with rude words and protest by people in the surrounding areas. Even the junior health inspector in Chelannur asked me to undergo 14 days quarantine,” she said.

“We worked wearing PPE kit for six hours without food and water. Only after taking off the protection gear can we even attend to nature’s call. But now I feel more hurt with the rude behavior of people and the health staff than the physical distress I experienced inside the PPE kit,’’ she said.

Besides, Sicily was one of the 47 temporary workers at Nipah isolation wards who got a temporary daily wage job for their outstanding contributions during the Nipah outbreak in 2018.

“We are not expecting people to welcome us with rose petals and garlands. We only expect people to treat us like normal persons,” she said, adding that she would rejoin duty on May 9.

Dr K G Sajeeth Kumar, superintendent of KGMCH, condenmend such incidents. “The staff worked at the isolation ward risking own life and completed 14 days quarantine after 9-day duty. Such people need to get respect from others and not boycott,” he said.

“We have made duty arrangements to ensure less exposure to staff deployed at isolation ward with Covid-19 patients. It is being done to avoid chances for hospital-level transmission of disease. We have set up own food and accommodation for quarantined staff attending Covid-19 isolation wards and rooms duty. We will initiate necessary actions on getting a complaint from the staff,” he added.