doctors

coronavirus

COVID-19

hospital

Wagholi

society

Pune

After their eviction from the Wagholi society (L), the staff are living on beds at their hospital, left with nowhere else to go; PIC: MANOJ BIDKAR

Wagholi Housing Societies Association

hospital staff

On Sunday, the nation clapped in unison at 5 pm to appreciate the dedication ofand other healthcare professionals for keepingdisease () under control — and yet, within two days, 22 members of staff of a multi-specialityinwere forced to vacate their accommodation at a nearby. The reason: An accident victim they treated for three days turned into a COVID-19-positive case two days later on Tuesday.While Union health minister Harsh Vardhan appealed to all to not discriminate against doctors amid the COVID-19 scare, after the Resident Doctors’ Association of All India Institute of Medical Sciences had objected to forced eviction of its members from their rented apartments in New Delhi, the message seems to have eluded Krushna Kunj in Wagholi, where several healthcare professionals have been living since five years.One of the doctors of the multi-speciality hospital shared his plight with Mirror, saying, “An accident victim was admitted to our hospital for three days (March 19-21), and was shifted to a private institute inon March 22. The 41-year-old Sanaswadi resident tested positive for COVID-19 on March 24 and the news went viral in the area. Shortly thereafter, the healthcare professionals were asked by society residents to vacate the premises over fears of infection. For the past two days, we all are living at the hospital itself.”At least 22 employees, including doctors, nurses, medical staff, residential medical officer and male nurses, live in three flats taken on lease by the hospital management at Krushna Kunj. Of them, only two have been asked to be quarantined by the health officials. Although the two were staying quarantined at the hospital, the society members still asked the entire team to evict the flats.The hospital’s medical store manager said the society members gathered together, setting the deadline at 5 pm to vacate the flats. “All of us were walking like criminals and the residents looked down upon us through their windows and balconies. Such humiliating behaviour was unexpected from our neighbours who we stayed with for five years. We all walked with our heads down and came to the hospital on Tuesday after-noon,” he said.Speaking to Mirror, the hospital’s medical director said they are cooperating with the district administration. While they were providing the details to the district administration officials, they received a call from a Krushna Kunj society member. “As we don’t want to fight with them and the situation is sensitive, we decided to take the entire staff into the hospital itself. All the teams have been staying at the hospital since the past two days now. But the morale of the entire healthcare staff and doctors is down now,” said the director. “The other staff who are living in their own houses or rented accommodations in the vicinity have also been ostracised by the area residents. They are facing harassment and unnecessary questions like whether they have tested for any exposure to SARS-CoV2. I have been flooded with such calls by my staff,” added the medical director.“We have to deal with patients and cannot say who will be infected with COVID-19. We are just doing our duty and know the safety protocols and care for our life and society. But in such acrisis, our own society people are not accepting, and treating us like criminals. The morale of doctors is down because of this with a stigma being created because there’s a lack of awareness,” said a doctor, who has shifted to the hospital.Nitinkumar Jain, the director of, admitted the lack of awareness among citizens regarding coronavirus. “Healthcare workers should not be ostracised. The people working in the healthcare sector are an important part of the society and we are trying to remove the stigma about it by creating awareness,” he said.Vilas Satav, chairman of Krushna Kunj society, said he is “unaware about the forceful eviction”. He added, “Thehave made their arrangements in their own hospital and are there at present. As there is a lockdown, I don’t know what exactly happened but I know that some society members spoke to the hospital employees. The management was asked to make accommodation arrangement for their employees. This was asked due to the COVID-19 outbreak.”