COVID-19: Ensure Safety of Nurses, Says Kerala CM in Letter to Kejriwal, Thackeray

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has shot off letters to chief ministers of Delhi and Maharashtra to ensure the safety of nurses from the state working in those states following reports of para-medical staff being affected with COVID-19.

At a press meet on Monday after the evaluation meet on COVID-19, Vijayan had said 46 nurses from Kerala in Mumbai have been infected by the virus and more than 150 nurses were under observation there.

The Kerala CM had also said that five nurses in Delhi's prestigious Cancer Institute have been confirmed with coronavirus and there were complaints regarding lack of PPEs (personal protective gears) across the country.

"We are receiving frantic telephone calls from them (nurses). Many of them are informing us that there is lack of adequate precaution to prevent the contagion of the disease," Vijayan said in letters to his counterparts Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi and Uddhav Thackeray of Maharashtra.

Vijayan higlighted the plight of nurses in separate letters to the two chief ministers.

"I need not remind you that a vast majority of the nursing community serving within India and abroad belongs to Kerala. The services rendered by them have been lauded by one and all. In this hour of crisis, the nation needs to stand with them and give them the confidence which they have been giving all along to others," Vijayan said in the letter.

He had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested that the state governments concerned may be advised to urgently look into the facts and circumstances and provide due care, attention and necessary precautions so that the standard health protocols are followed and utmost protection given to the health personnel.