Availability, Accessibility & Affordability of PPE Kits a major concern for Hospitals and Frontline Warriors
Doctors and Health Care Professionals are on the frontline of the fight against Covid-19. They are working continuously and tirelessly, risking their own lives, to save the lives of Covid-19 patients. Their efforts have been widely acclaimed at all levels. Even though the authorities have taken several steps towards halting the spread of the disease, by announcing country-wide lockdown of certain services and restricting citizens to their homes, our frontline warriors need to take up several safety measures before treating a patient with Covid-19. The only way to prevent the spread of the virus among healthcare workers, is to provide them with an adequate number of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Kits.
Components of PPE are goggles, face-shield, N95-mask, gloves, coverall/gowns (with or without aprons), head cover and shoe cover, that Doctors and other health care professionals use while treating patients. A document containing guidelines on rational use of Personal Protective Equipment, by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, says that a settings approach must be used by health care workers and others working in points of entries (POEs), quarantine centers, hospital, laboratory and primary health care/community settings, to make optimal usage of the available resources. As reported in the document, the PPEs are to be used based on the risk profile of the health care worker. The risk profiles are No risk, Low risk, Moderate Risk, and High risk.
Several questions have been raised by hospital staff, including frontline workers, regarding the availability of PPE Kits; one kit cannot be used for more than 6 hours as these kits are more prone to being contaminated . The first systematic survey on the status of personal protective equipment for health care workers in India revealed that almost all components of PPE were found to be either inadequately available or unavailable in most hospitals.
The survey was based on responses from doctors, residents and interns, nurses and community health workers. Nearly a third of respondents reported that N95 masks were not available at all. “One of the surprising and important findings is the lack of formal training on PPE. Over half had not received any training and a fifth reported that they self-taught themselves,” said Dr Subhashri B of CommonHealth, one of the three researchers behind the survey.
As per the survey, over one in five of those working in red zone districts reported that N95 masks were not available to them. Among those working in designated Covid centres, just over a third responded that N95 masks were regularly available in adequate quantities. In some cases doctors have been forced to use raincoats and motorbike helmets. The Indian Medical Association-Maharashtra State, said that hospitals are finding it difficult to meet the cost of oxygen, PPE kits, biomedical waste charges, staff salaries, disinfection, leading to the verge of closure of several private hospitals on grounds of economic crisis.
Supplying adequate PPEs to hospitals, covid facilities, and other health centres is the need of the hour. Several researchers and innovators are developing ways to adequately supply PPEs to our frontline health care professionals. Based on intensive research, Indra has developed a PPE disinfection system called VAJRA Kavach-E (KE) that uses a multi-stage disinfection process with advanced oxidation, corona discharge, and UVC light spectrum to inactivate the viruses, bacteria, and other microbial strains present on the PPE enabling its re-use multiple times before disposal thereby ensuring availability, accessibility, and affordability for all. This will immensely reduce the excessive generation of Covid-19 related bio-medical waste as well, helping the environment.
