Medical staff working under life threat in AP to combat Coronavirus: PIL in HC

Amaravati: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the AP High Court, urging the Court to direct the State government to provide sufficient Personal Protection Equipment (PPEs) and other protective tools to the medical fraternity, who are engaged in combating the COVID19 in the State.

All the medical staff, who are frontline warriors, including doctors, nurses, lab technicians, paramedical staff, sanitary workers and others in both Government and private sectors are forced to work without providing PPEs, in the Coronavirus duties in all the hospitals across the State, informed Narra Srinivasa Rao, General Secretary of All India Lawyer Union (AILU) Andhra Pradesh state unit.

He urged the Chief Justice of the AP High Court on Saturday to direct the government to procure sufficient PPEs, N-90 and N-95 masks, ventilators, testing kits and other medical required tools, in his PIL. As the lockdown is in force, he sent a mail to the High Court and urged it to consider the mail as PIL, treating it as an emergency and most important issue, informed Srinivasa Rao.

He said that the government has to provide the medical equipment to both government and private hospitals to perform the duties by doctors, medical staff, nurses, sanitary workers and others.

He said that the doctors expressed fear to attend the duties without wearing the PPEs, as instructed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the COVID19.

Providing inadequate protective tools is nothing but forcing the medical staff to work under life threat, he observed.

Srinivasa Rao explained to the Court that, "There are no PPEs available at present with the Government of AP. They are very essential to the doctors, paramedical staff, nurses and other sanitary workers who have to work at this critical stage. There are no sufficient N-90 or N-95 masks available."

The State government enforced the Disaster Management Act 2005, Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 and EssentialServices Maintenance Act,1971 to mitigate the circumstance. Now, both government and private medical infrastructure in the state come under the preview of ESMA, he added. Stating that, it is a welcoming gesture and the medical staff is expressing willingness to serve, the government has to assure them by providing sufficient protection tools, he added.