Image Source: TOI

In the last two weeks, 79 government doctors have tested positive for COVID in Hyderabad, said a Resident Doctors Association.

The latest was from Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), where four doctors and three paramedics tested positive on Saturday.

“At Osmania Medical College 49 doctors, 26 at NIMS, and 4 at Gandhi Medical College have tested positive so far. Several lab staffers, nurses and paramedics have also tested positive. Doctors and staff require more protective gear. We are also hearing a number of doctors of private hospitals also testing positive and they are being treated at the hospitals where they work,’’ said Dr. G Srinivas, the president of NIMS Resident Doctors Association.

Healthcare workers at top government medical colleges and hospitals blame the government for exposing them to the coronavirus by not testing enough.

“The government should at least start testing more now. So many doctors and health workers are at risk,’’ said Dr K Mahesh Kumar, the president of the Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association.

“Testing is an early warning system. The government is not testing enough and its policy is putting doctors and frontline workers at extreme risk. We don’t know about the spread of infection; which areas it has spread, and what is the population that is infected and in which region,” said Kumar.