MARGAO
A Margao-based housing society’s letter to a nursing home to stop the doctors and nurses from staying in the society during Covid-19 pandemic has kicked up a row of sorts.
While the Housing Society Chairman Hemant Angle has claimed that the nurses may spread coronavirus in the society, Dr Vandana Borkar of Borkar Nursing Home said the nurses and doctors treating the patients are not Covid positive, saying she will have no option than to close down the hospital catering to 14-17 patients if the housing society insists on stopping the nurses from staying in the society.
In his letter to Vandana Borkar, Society Chairman Hemant Angle pointed out that the doctors and nurses treating/ attending to the Covid patients in the hospital and they later stay in the two flats in the housing society has created fear amongst the residents.
He pointed out that society members had objected to the staying of the doctors and nurses in the two flats, pointing out “this is a dangerous situation where our society may be contaminated by the coronavirus which may be transmitted by the employees”.
“It is not my individual decision, but a decision taken by the society members. They are afraid over the presence of the nurses and doctors in the apartments of the society. After their duties in the hospital, the nurses come in PPE kits to the society, creating fear amongst the residents,” Hemant said.
He, however, said that the society will have no issue with the nurses and doctors staying in the society if they adopt proper measures for the safety of other society members. “I have nothing against the nurses and doctors. I had volunteered myself during the Covid vaccine trial,” he said, adding the society will have no issues if their fears are allayed by the nursing home owner.
Dr Vandana Borkar, however, begged to differ over the claims made by Hemant Angle. “It is not true that our nurses come to the society in PPE gear. They all keep their PPE kits in the hospital and go to the flats,” Vandana asserted, adding that the nurses do not even move out of the flats during their stay.
She pointed out that the Borkar Nursing Home has allotted 14 beds for Covid patients after the government asked the private hospitals to reserve beds for Covid patients. “Our nurses come from far flung villages and cannot make it home for want of transportation. They work in shifts and to ensure the Covid patients gets the care and treatment round the clock, they were kept in my flats in the society building. If the society insists on stopping the nurses from saying in the society, I may have no option than to shut down the hospital for Covid patients,” she added.
That the society chairman in the letter made a mention that the nurses and doctors are staying in the flats in violation of society by-laws and without any permission indicates that the society and Borkar are having a running battle over a host of others issues.
