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India does not test healthcare workers regularly, risking them & patients

India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) on May 15 had said that there was no need to quarantine healthcare workers unless they had been exposed to Covid-19

Medics wearing protective suits collect swab samples for Covid-19 test of vegetable vendors, who had shops in Vadasery bus stand, in Kanyakumari District. Photo: PTI

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Initially, several hospitals sent their workers into a 14-day quarantine between two 14- to 15-day-long rotations in Covid-19 wards

Shreya Khaitan | IndiaSpend

11 min read Last Updated : Jun 20 2020 | 3:52 PM IST

Rashmi (name changed), a nurse at Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, tested positive for Covid-19 on May 21. She had no symptoms necessary for a test under India’s testing guidelines. But she had come in contact with a colleague, who had tested positive five days prior.

Rashmi continued to work for five days before her samples were collected on May 20. “Some nurses had been immediately quarantined but not all as there is a shortage of staff at hospitals,” she told IndiaSpend. She was finally isolated on May 21.

Healthcare workers are

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