Coronavirus outbreak: Situation worsening in Vasai-Virar, Palghar

Lack of basic facilities at primary healthcare centres PHCs and inadequate testing kits are creating panic among doctors and medical workers in Palghar districts VasaiVirar belt They believe that the alarmingly poor rate of COVID19 testing in the area might eventually turn out to be a disaster for them as positive cases are seeing a surge even as the authorities turn a blind eye to the situationThe doctors working at PHCs in the VasaiVirar taluka without any Personal Protective Equipment PPE suits told midday that the specimens collected from suspected COVID19 patients were sent to Mumbaibased Kasturba Hospital which was already burdened with a lot of work related to the health crisis They said that the private labs did not have adequate testing kitsRequesting anonymity a senior medical officer of a zilla parishad in Palghar said It takes approximately a weeks time to get a swab report A team from a private lab comes to collect the samples of a suspected patient only if they have available testing kits Earlier they used to come immediately on being called but now they take at least four days to collect the swabAmbulances at the PHCs in VasaiVirar taluka have been gathering dust for yearsOnce the specimen is collected the private lab takes another four days to give us the report So overall it takes more than a week for the whole process and this time can be really crucial for a suspected patient he addedDelay in reportsAnother doctor said The delay in delivery of reports amidst the severe lacunae in health infrastructure in Palghar district will be disastrous and beyond the control of the limited medical workers who have not been given PPE suits to be worn while transporting suspected patients to isolation centres in the VasaiVirar talukaLast week midday visited the five PHCs ndash Vasai Nalasopara Bhatane Mandovi and Agashi ndash in the VasaiVirar taluka and found that ambulances kept on the premises have been gathering dust for years They are dysfunctional at a time when patients need to be transported to isolation centres Such poor facilities at PHCs are paving the way for fast proliferation of private hospitals in Vasai taluka where a large number of people have migrated from Mumbai in the last few years said another doctorOne PHC one SUVSome of the doctors at the PHCs told midday that they have been asking for ambulances since years but the state government doesnt pay any heed to their requestsThe PHCs in the VasaiVirar belt are facing a tough time due to the lack of protective gear and ambulances in the wake of the massive health crisisRequesting anonymity a doctor said that after midday highlighted how the health workers were using their own vehicles to meet those under home quarantine district collector Kailash Shinde gave one SUV to each of the five PHCsThe government asked us to use the SUVs as ambulances What a joke This means that a symptomatic person has to be ferried in the same vehicle to get himher tested Why will healthy medical workers travel with the suspected patients in the same car Do they realise the gravity of the situation asked a doctorAnother medical professional said Even though the collector has provided us with vehicles due to the acute shortage of PPE we may get infected as we have to travel in the same vehicle with the symptomatic peopleNot sanitisedHighlighting the issue further a cleaning staff said The vehicles used for transporting symptomatic people need to be properly sanitised but there is inadequate material to disinfect them This may pose serious threat of further spread of CoronavirusSpeaking to midday district health officer Dr Dayanand Suryavanshi confirmed that reports from Kasturba were getting delayed Kasturba Hospital is already overburdened with a lot of testing It is the reason why they are taking so much time in sending reports On Thursday 45 samples were sent to Kasturba but I cant say anything on how much time they will take in sending the reportsHowever when contacted Deputy Health Officer at Kasturba Hospital Daksha Shah said There is immense workload as we have got nearly 10000 patients in OPD since the Coronavirus outbreak We also have been getting a lot of cases from the districts as they lack the facilities These districts should get in touch with the state government as specimens are also being tested at other hospitals including KEM and JJ Hospital since the past couple of daysThough we cannot refuse to test if specimens are sent to us it is better if the workload gets divided Then we can streamline our efforts to fight the current health crisis There is no shortage of testing kits added ShahCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates