Helping COVID Warriors With the Necessary Gear to Ensure their Safety

03/11/20

Story of Change

19

Dr. Vishal Vani, a gynaecologist, has been serving at the Surya Maternity Home from the past 10 years. Shut down for construction, Surya Maternity Home was reopened during the Covid-19 pandemic due to the gravity of the situation, because of the untimely opening, there is no antenatal care (ANC)OPD unit. All the Covid-19 positive pregnant women are referred to the KEM Hospital for delivery as all the facilities are only available there so Dr. Vani on most of the days are available at the KEM Hospital.
Dr. Vishal Vani said that when the corona pandemic started, they used to treat the Covid-19 positive pregnant women without using proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and feared that they would also get infected. He sent a request letter to Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) asking for PPE Kits, the BMC in return had sent Kits only for the doctors and not the other staff. The support provided by Marks and Spencer along with Bal Raksha Bharat helped the staff with 200 PPE Kits, and 100 N 95 Masks.
Post the distribution, Dr. Vishal Vani told our team that every staff member is now using PPE Kit and are now able to do their duty fearlessly. This is enabling the doctors and the medical staff to give more time to the patients without feeling unsafe. He thanked Marks and Spencer and Bal Raksha Bharat for their help and asked them to continue the good work.

Neeta Munj is one of the Head Nurse at Khairwadi Maternity Home since the past 12 years. When the Covid-19 pandemic started in Mumbai in March 2020, the maternity hospital staff had no safety equipment at all. Neeta shares that they use to carry out child deliveries without using PPE Kits or Masks, and as a result, 25 staff members become Covid-19 positive. Neeta says that the staff sent 5 letters to Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) requesting for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Kits, but from March to May no PPE Kits were sent by BMC.
In June they sent very few PPE Kits which were used only by the doctors, and the rest of the staff worked without PPE Kits. Even while conducting operations, the staff had no PPE Kits, and hence the staff carried out their work fearfully. A few staff members stopped attending their duties as they were scared they would be infected. After Marks and Spencer and Bal Raksha Bharat donated PPE Kits to the Maternity Home, not a single staff member has been on leave. They reported to work on time. When Bal Raksha Bharat’s team when for a follow-up, we found out that between 5th October 2020 to 17th October 2020, not a single staff member was on leave. They worked fearlessly using the PPE Kits. In all 17 deliveries were carried out during this period and no case was transferred to a big hospital. Neeta and her team is really grateful to Marks and Spencer and Bal Raksha Bharat from the help.

Gaurav Sharma

Content Reviewer

“I am an editor and technical specialist at Bal Raksha Bharat, responsible for publishing articles and posts. My role involves evaluating content for consistency, and ensuring a positive user experience across the website."