Monkeypox suspect in PPE sparks ire

HYDERABAD: After the patient suspected of having contracted monkeypox was seen wearing a PPE kit on Monday at the Government Fever Hospital, experts say the patient does not need to wear a PPE kit as per the guidelines.

The patient is in isolation at the hospital, awaiting test results to confirm the presence of monkeypox.

A senior doctor at a government hospital said the PPE kit would cause great discomfort to the patient, who would be experiencing ‘torture’ and ‘going through hell’ inside the kit. The doctor said for any infection which had lesions like in monkeypox or chickenpox, the patient should wear loose, lightweight clothing. The doctor added that the patient would be feeling very hot inside the kit.

However, infectious disease specialist at Apollo Hospitals Dr Sangeetha Nareddy said while there was no recommendation in the guidelines for a PPE kit, the decision to make the patient wear one was probably taken as an extra precaution.

“During the beginning of Covid pandemic too, everybody was wearing a PPE. The initial fear will always be there, when we have limited information about the disease. Right now, the recommendation is that monkeypox patients don’t need PPE kits because it spreads by droplets and by contact.”

Dr Nareddy added that there was a need to convince the staff at hospitals that they were doing a bit more than what was required. She said the kit would not aggravate the patient’s condition.

The Union ministry of health and family welfare issued a document titled ‘Guidelines for Management of Monkeypox Disease.’ The part of the document which details management of the patient does not mention a PPE kit. It states that the patient should be kept in an isolation room of a hospital, should wear a triple layer mask and his/her skin lesions should be covered and isolation should be continued until all lesions have resolved and scabs have completely fallen off.

Superintendent of Fever Hospital Dr K. Shankar could not be reached for his comments over the patient wearing a PPE kit.