COVID-19: Striking a Balance between Health Care Provider Safety and Patient Care in the Indian Hospital Settings.

N, Midhun Mohan; Radhakrishnan, Chandni; P, Indira

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the health care systems all over the world. The global shortage of resources has adversely affected the safety of healthcare personnel as well patients. This has forced the health care facilities to adopt various measures and improvisation in infection control practices, in addition to those in personnel protective equipments (PPEs) adapting to their need and their resources. Objectives To review the literature on the infection control practices in health care facilities against COVID-19 and put forward practical solutions, in addition to personnel protective equipments that may be adopted for health care personnel and patient safety in the Indian setting. Conclusions We are now amidst of COVID-19 pandemic and we need to focus on 'Risk reduction as much as possible'. The facilities and resources should transform to meet the challenges within the shortest time frame. The concept of patient care needs to balance with the safety of the healthcare, patient and society. This is achievable only by a combination of engineering controls, administrative controls and PPEs. It involves a lot of committed team work while managing an outbreak like COVID - 19 attached with a lot of social stigma.