A Park Street hospital got 300 personal protection equipment sets at St Xavier’s College on Friday.
Each single-use kit contained face shield, goggles, mask, gloves, a coverall gown and shoe cover.
“We need to stand by doctors and other frontline health service providers, who have been extending yeomen humanitarian service at this trying time. Our small effort will surely give a positive signal to that section of the society, which is trying to socially outcast this noble professionals,” Father Dominic Savio, the principal of the college, said while distributing the kits.
Healthcare workers at government and private hospitals, even those who have not been in contact with Covid-19 patients, have been stigmatised in the city and elsewhere in Bengal. Officials of government and private hospital said
“These will be of great help, considering the pressure that our doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are under. The stock should last over a week,” Indranil Mukhopadhyay, vice-president of Mission of Mercy Hospital and Research Centre who collected the PPE gear, said.
The help was organised by the St Xavier’s College (Calcutta) Alumni Association. “We procured the PPE from an authorised supplier. The gear confirms to the standards of the World Health Organisation and the Indian government,” an organiser said.
“Doctors and healthcare workers are our saviours; so, we felt the urgency of empowering them,” Sanjib Koner, honourary secretary of the alumni association, said.
