# 3624
On a day where a panel at the IOM (Institute of Medicine) has been wrapping up a workshop on the use of PPEs (personal protective equipment) by health care workers, we get this disturbing report of 6 nurses and 4 doctors infected with the virus in Kuwait.
It isn’t abundantly clear what level of PPEs (if any) were in use prior to these HCWs acquiring the infection. We’ve seen other media reports of HCWs infected in other parts of the world, and regrettably, of some deaths from the virus.
This report from the Arab Times. A hat tip to AIDigest for this link.
Six nurses, 4 doctors at Amiri catch ‘H1N1’
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 11, (Agencies): Six nurses and four doctors working at the Al-Amiri Hospital were transferred to the Infectious Diseases Hospital, after they tested positive for Swine flu.
One of the patients was said to be in critical condition.
Meanwhile, management of the hospital has distributed masks to workers and visitors to avoid further spread of the disease.
Isolation rooms have been set in all governmental hospitals as a counter measure to the spread of swine flu, said a statement from the Health Ministry on Tuesday. After the meeting between Health Minister Dr. Hilal Al-Sayer and heads of health areas, official ministry spokesman Dr Yousif Al-Nisf told KUNA that the step was taken to counter the A(H1N1) virus, adding that Minister Al-Sayer called for increasing efforts against the disease.
Meanwhile, an official source at the ministry told KUNA that the ministry would pay the overtime for all those working in the evening shift at health centers. The official also affirmed that the fingerprint system would be used in the upcoming weeks to monitor the employee’s commitment to the working hours.
