Amidst the rising concerns of Mumbai emerging as a Coronavirus hotspot, a shocking case has now come to the fore. Mumbai’s civic-run Kasturba Hospital has initiated action against its staff for highlighting the issue of alleged lack of PPEs for medical staff.

According to a Times Now report, these individuals were making videos highlighting the laxities in the hospital. The hospital administration has now punished these employees for bringing the hospital’s plight to the forefront.

What were the allegations against Kasturba Hospital by medical staff amidst Coronavirus crisis

The Municipal workers union’s general secretary Pradeep Narkar, highlighting the hospital administration’s callousness towards its doctors, nurses and especially the class IV staff, had earlier said that “Corona infection poses a risk of reaching homes because the administration is neglecting the security of the employees. There is a feeling that the administration is not concerned about the lives of these employees, regardless of the risks they are being exposed to. The municipality should provide ‘security kits’ to the employees on an urgent basis, otherwise, the staff will stop serving the coronavirus ward and instead shift to other wards in the hospital.

A shortage of personal protection equipment kits is Maharashtra has emerged as a continuous threat to the lives of the medical staffers. BMC officials had earlier confirmed that 93 staffers at the hospital, including doctors, nurses and technicians, have been tested for likely exposure to coronavirus. Amidst the growing threat, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has appealed to corporates and individuals to donate personal protective equipment (PPE) to meet the needs of its hospitals.

BMC raises alarm about Community transmission

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On April 8, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had raised alarms about the likelihood of the contagion entering community transmission stage in Mumbai.

The Municipal corporation has said that the emergence of new cases of coronavirus with neither any travel history nor any known contact with patients hints that the spread might have entered the community transmission stage.

As per the BMC report, a large chunk of Wuhan Coronavirus positive case in India’s financial hub has been reported from the city’s densest areas and slum pockets. The corporation has received 78 cases from the G/Southward, the highest number of cases in the city, where the patients mainly comprise from the fishermen colony of Worli, Prabhadevi and Lower Parel. The second-highest number of cases are reported from D ward, which includes Byculla, a South Mumbai neighbourhood. In addition, localities such as Dharavi, Kurla, Nehru Nagar, Bandra and Andheri too have registered a considerable number of positive coronavirus cases.

The total number of coronavirus cases registered in the country stands at 10,363 with 339 fatalities. Maharashtra leads the country with the highest number of coronavirus at 2,334. Mumbai alone is believed to have contributed to more than 50 per cent of the state tally.

Despite the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in Maharashtra continues to exacerbate, and the number of positive coronavirus cases rising precipitously, threatening to overwhelm the public health system, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state has refused the central government’s move to deploy the Armed Forces and stem the inexorable spread of the virus in the country’s financial capital.