Over 100 private nursing homes in East Midnapore are facing an unprecedented shortage of medical personnel after several doctors here refused to see patients starting last week in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

More than half of the district’s private nursing homes, most of which are located in Tamluk, have seen an uptick in the number of patients coinciding with the unwillingness of several private practitioners to come to “overcrowded and unsafe” work environments.

Tamluk is a major medical hub providing treatment to patients from Howrah, East Midnapore, West Midnapore and neighbouring Odisha.

“The main reason many of us have been compelled to stop working, including at our private chambers, is the fear of community transmission of this highly contagious virus,” said a physician in Tamluk on the condition of anonymity.

Sources said many of these private practitioners also worked as consultants at government hospitals. With several of them not reporting at government hospitals, the state healthcare facilities are also facing a shortage of doctors.

“Neither can we go to overcrowded and understaffed hospitals, nor can we afford to have our private chambers at home crowded at such times. We are vulnerable too,” the physician in Tamluk said.

On Monday evening, Mouli Samata, the mother of a five-month-old infant who was having breathing trouble, couldn’t find a child specialist in Tamluk even after a 10-hour wait. She had travelled 30km from her village to reach Tamluk. She finally managed to get her infant treated at a less-known nursing home.

“It was a nerve-wracking experience. Hospitals are supposed to give us relief at difficult times like these,” she said.

Asked, sources at the Association of Progressive Nursing Home and Hospital Owners in Tamluk said the situation was unprecedented.

“This is a bad time for doctors and patients. There are no surgeons or specialists anywhere. We are hard pressed to find one every two or three days, that too for an emergency,” said hospital owner and doctor B.C. Hazra.

Alok Patra, a psychiatrist from Tamluk, normally visits 50 hospitals in the city in a week in addition to his private practice.

“Hospitals are not the right place to be in right now. So I stopped visiting nursing homes from last week. I tried to open my private practice for limited hours but neighbourhood thugs closed that down too,” he said.

Asfaq Ahmed, a medicine specialist who lives in Calcutta and practises in Tamluk, sees over 100 patients a day under normal circumstances.

“But I have closed my chamber now because social distancing would not be possible. In addition, I am 65 years old and have a history of blood pressure problems,” he said.

Indian Medical Association officials said there was nothing they could do about the situation, adding that private practice was a doctor’s discretion.

“We will request people to come to government hospitals without hesitation at such times,” said J.C. Maity, secretary of the IMA’s Tamralipta chapter.

“Still, we are appealing to them (doctors) to serve on an emergency basis,” he added.