Doctor shares pic of his wrinkled hand after wearing PPE in humid weather

New Delhi: For healthcare workers at the frontlines in the battle against COVID-19, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is the first and most crucial line of defence that they have.

PPE kits are indispensable, so much so, medical staff have been scrambling to procure the kits amid complaints of severe shortages. 

Since the start of the pandemic, healthcare workers across the world have been sharing how long hours in the PPE suits give them rashes, make breathing difficult and the trapped air very hot.

More recently, a Delhi doctor working in a designated COVID-19 treating centre showed a photo of his hand that got wrinkled after wearing the PPE kit. While sharing the photo on Twitter, Dr Syed Faizan Ahmad wrote, "My hands after doffing #PPE due to profuse sweating in extremely humid climate."

My hands after doffing #PPE due to profuse sweating in extremely humid climate.#COVID19 #Covidwarrior #Doctor pic.twitter.com/wAp148TkNu

— Dr Syed Faizan Ahmad (@drsfaizanahmad) August 24, 2020

One user said, "Words fall short of the spectacular effort being put in by saviors like you. Humanity will always remain indebted to you for this." 

Another wrote, "I am indebted to health professionals and workers and all that working to keep us alive in this pandemic. The efforts they are giving and the extraordinary pain they suffer in the bargain is massive. SALUTE!!"

Being trapped inside PPE suits for hours is tough, and not meeting children, spouses or parents for weeks only makes it worse. Eating, drinking or even urinating is out of the question during duty hours that can last from six to eight hours and may even stretch to 12 hours given the outbreak.

Some time ago an image, a similar picture of a doctor’s hands after using gloves for over 10 hours, went viral.

IAS officer Awanish Sharan shared the picture on Twitter with the caption, ‘This is the hand of a doctor after removing his medical precautionary suit and gloves after 10 hours of duty. Salute to the frontline heroes’.

In March, when healthcare workers, especially in countries like Italy were under tremendous strain shared pictures of wearing PPE for hours.

Alessia Bonari, a nurse from Tuscany, Italy, took to Instagram and shared an image of her forehead and cheeks covered in red splotches from where her protective mask dug into her skin. ‘I am physically tired because the protective devices are bad, the lab coat makes you sweat and once dressed I can no longer go to the bathroom or drink for six hours,’ she wrote in the caption.