Open AccessConcerns of Frontline Doctors in India during COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Survey
Author(s) -
Harshvardhan Singh,
Shailja Sharma
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
indian journal of public health/indian journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.381
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 2229-7693
pISSN - 0019-557X
DOI - 10.4103/ijph.ijph_472_20
Subject(s) - covid-19 , cross sectional study , personal protective equipment , medicine , task (project management) , family medicine , task force , medical emergency , virology , pathology , political science , engineering , disease , systems engineering , public administration , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty)
A rapid cross-sectional survey was conducted across India among frontline allopathic doctors to know their prime concerns. Four hundred and five responses were received from 16 states and 3 union territories. Among doctors working in COVID-dedicated hospitals, 56.18% are formally trained for the same, and 40.5% of these are satisfied with the training. 47.3% of these have personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, 35.1% have no PPE kits, and 17.6% are not aware of their availability. 31.1% of doctors reported attending to COVID suspects without PPE. 58.1% of institutions have a dedicated task force, 20.3% do not, whereas 21.6% of doctors are not aware of such a task force. Only 21.6% of the participants consider their institution to be fully prepared for COVID. After performing COVID duties, 45.9% are being provided with an alternative place of stay, whereas only 16.2% have been quarantined. In non-COVID institutions, 82.4% of doctors are using protective gear, of these 35.2% procured them on their own.