COVID-19: With nurses from Kerala gone, city hospitals struggle to cope

Nurses from Kerala – who form the backbone of almost every hospital in Mumbai – have left in droves, crippling operations at several major hospitals. Top hospitals like Jaslok, Hinduja, Bhatia and LH Hiranandani among others are facing a shortage of nurses. Many of the nurses have resigned and gone back to Kerala, ever since cases started spiking in Mumbai and health workers started getting infected.

In the months of April and May over 300 nurses from various hospitals including Wockhardt, Bhatia, Jaslok, Bombay hospital, Nanavati, Lilavati, Hiranandani and Hinduja hospital, tested positive. In Wockhardt, 80 nurses were infected while 57 at Jaslok and 45 in Bhatia tested positive for Covid-19. “After their quarantine period was over, they were asked to come back, but many did not show up. Some just left without even resigning,” said a staff member of a private hospital who did not wish to be named.

Click here for latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic

At Bhatia hospital, sources said that around 80 nurses from Kerala have left the hospital. “We are really struggling to run the hospital at present with half our nurses having left,” said Dr Rohinton Dastur, medical director of Bhatia Hospital. “We tried to counsel them but they don’t want to work in the hospital.

While a few said that their parents are worried about them, some others say they fear working in the city amid the pandemic,” he said.

Gautam Khanna, CEO of Hinduja hospital, also said that many nurses had left for Kerala but refused to share the numbers. Just last week, seven nurses at Jaslok hospital resigned. Jitendra Haryan, CEO of Jaslok, said that the hospital managed to retain some of them but added that with the shortage of nurses, it is a challenge to manage Covid-19 beds.

In a statement, LH Hiranandani Hospital’s nursing director (Capt) Valsa Thomas said that the hospital has seen a negligible attrition of nurses. “Just nine nurses have resigned so far (March to 1st June) may be due to their family pressure/personal reason,” Thomas said, adding that nurses at the hospital are now being paid Rs 5,000 a month over and above their salary.

“A lot of nurses specially from Kerala have resigned. Unhappiness about facilities or perhaps insecurity stemming from rapid disease spread compared to their home state may be possible reasons. We need to strengthen their confidence and incentivise their working conditions,” said Shruti Tandan Pardasani, critical care physician, Jaslok and Bhatia Hospital.

Abraham Mathai, who formed the All India Nurses Association, feels that many of the nurses left as they felt let down by their hospitals. “Many nurses were kept in BMC centres rather than in their own hospitals. In the hostels where they were quarantined, food was not provided. I distributed ration to one of the hostels after they approached me,” he said. Valsama Jose, secretary of All India Nurses Association claimed that some nurses were asked to report to duty even before their quarantine got over. “Their parents don’t want them to work here in such conditions. In Kerala, nurses are taken very good care of.”

“Nurses are one of the most important pillars of the medical fraternity and they are profiled abroad as just one below the doctor while unfortunately in our country the profile of a nurse is just one above the ward boy,” Dr Mathai added.