AITUC says front-line health workers facing PPE shortage

All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) on Wednesday flagged shortage of protective medical equipment (PPE) faced by frontline health workers amid coronavirus outbreak.

The union claimed that the complaints of non-availability of protective medical equipment are pouring in continuously in its union offices.

ASHA and Anganwadi workers who have also been integrated into the service provider of medical care at various levels are complaining that they are being forced to take up work without safety masks being given to them.

Not only that, they are alleging that police also harasses them at some places, it said.

Despite the advisories from the government, the harassment and ostracisation of the doctors, nurses, and other paramedical staff continues in residential areas especially of those who are infected while on their duty serving Corona patients, the union said.

It is utmost important that the central government equips front line health care workers and hospitals with adequate supplies of necessary facilities to fight the spread of this deadly disease and for the treatment of patients, it urged.