A difficult job that is practiced under great pressure and especially now where the cases multiply, let us say every hour. Hospitals, treatment centres and quarantine centres are full and beds/rooms get filled immediately. “These front liners are more than essential; the treatment towards them should have been more rewarding”, laments the Nursing Association. They are nonetheless victims of the injustices of unjustified gratuities and impositions, during their own quarantine.
Posted everywhere
They are willing to risk themselves for the population. They work in main hospitals, dispensaries, treatment centres, quarantine centres, vaccination centres, mass screening campaigns and especially in isolation areas for severe Covid cases. The population of nurses is more or less all concerned, and each nurse is on guard as soon as they are called upon to intervene. There is, however, a system that registers volunteers and from this ‘unit’, there are recruitment and assignment to the various treatment and observation establishments.
The wards
Each ward requires the presence of a head doctor or a specialist, a general practitioner, a head nurse, a nurse, a caregiver, and an attendant. The job of the nurse, apart from intervention and assistance to specialists and doctors, consists of various analysis and tests, taking blood samples, temperature, diabetes, and blood pressure tests, checking vital signs and even serving meals, among other things, in response to patients’ requests. “Our daily concern is the management of patients who are a bit under the weather because of their quarantine, very often reacting in incomprehension following their presence in quarantine. Very often, they are asymptomatic and a person, who thinks he is fine, would feel like a prisoner during his quarantine. We need to be ten times more understanding and listening, ten times more patient and keep our cool in perpetuity. It seems like this is our duty in this time of pandemic and I think every nurse in the world is going through the same thing,” says David, a nurse in a quarantine centre.
Responsibilities versus Revenue
A nurse posted in a quarantine centre works a double shift, day and night, for seven days in a row and is not allowed to leave the premises under any conditions. He sleeps in an isolated room, equipped for two beds, during his rest hours and in the period between his two shifts. Otherwise, he works two weeks of normal and overtime hours with two days off in each week. In both cases, after his service, the nurse receives a PCR test and is sent for quarantine to one of the centres for observation. They are paid their normal working hours during this period. Some nurses, after the PCR test on the 7th day of quarantine, if negative, are sent home to observe self-isolation under the same conditions. A nurse working for this quarantine service of course receives his basic pay of Rs 18,000 and a lump sum of Rs 175 on each additional hour worked. “Nurses in this category can go out with a deferment of Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 per month,” says Shakib, a nurse who has worked in a treatment centre.
Two emergencies
Two problems highlighted by Ram Nowzadick, the President of the Nursing Association: “The nurse is only paid for the hours he or she works, or for the hours he or she is supposed to work in his or her contract when in quarantine. It should be noted that these medical staff are always considered to be working during their working hours even if they are in quarantine or self-isolation, which is part of their basic monthly salary. A professional constraint certainly, but which should be rewarded with a higher sum by the state, I ask for a “disturbance allowance” for each nurse, which I consider to be honest” he points out. The quarantined nurse is eventually deprived of his family and his life in the name of his work.
The second constraint is self-isolation in the third week at their respective homes. For this part to be feasible, an endorsement from a Regional Public Health Specialist is required after the latter has checked and approved that the nurse’s home is suitable for self-isolation, i.e. separate bedroom and bathroom.
More fear than anger
“I understand that if the test is negative and to make room for new cases, it is convenient for the nurse to do this last part at home. But there is no guarantee that the nurse does not carry the virus and will not contaminate or that his health is not threatened even if he is vaccinated,” says Ram Nowzadick, also a nurse.
Two whole problems that he has already expressed to the Ministry of Health on behalf of the Nursing Association. He is still waiting for answers. “There is no anger but justified fears. These issues are often discussed, but there has been no action so far. With the growing trend of Covid, they will be called upon more often for their services. Prevention is better than cure,” he concludes. This is the fear of complaints about wages and working conditions, but above all, about the contamination and negligence in medical observation.
