Nurse disciplined for wearing only lingerie under transparent protective gown in COVID-19 male ward

A Russian nurse disciplined for wearing only lingerie beneath a transparent protective gown is afraid of losing her job after images taken by patients went viral.

Colleagues, doctors and politicians have rushed to her defence, accusing hospital bosses in the city of Tula of failing to provide her with correct PPE for working on a coronavirus ward.

They said she was not provided with proper scrubs to wear underneath the thin gown, which was also too thin to offer proper protection from the virus.

It comes after the medic, who has not been publicly identified, said she was 'too hot' underneath the gown and did not realise how transparent it was. The backlash comes after officials at Tula Hospital said they would take disciplinary action against the nurse for violating uniform codes, without specifying what the punishment will be.

Male patients on the ward said they had 'no complaints' about the uniform, but admitted there was 'some embarrassment'.

'Now she is under big stress,' a colleague told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.'She is in a state of shock and afraid of losing her job altogether.'

Head of the Doctors' Alliance, Dr Anastasia Vasilyeva, who has been critical of the Russian response to coronavirus, offered to back the nurse in appealing against her punishment.

'If she turns to us, we will protect her,' she said.'The fact that the costumes are of such a quality that do not meet the standards is a problem for management, not the nurse.

The fact that the costumes are of such a quality that do not meet the standards is a problem for management, not the nurse.'The picture shows that she was wearing some kind of plastic suit.'We need to pay attention not to her [lingerie], but that the (gown) does not meet the necessary standards.

'Firstly, a plague-proof costume is never transparent.'And it must be made of a completely different fabric.'She did not break the law and 'why should she, if it is hot, put herself in any kind of danger?'One nurse who works with the punished woman said her colleagues 'do not want to say more as they are afraid to harm her.

The incident happened because there was a shortage of medical clothing to wear under the protective gown, she said.'In general we are supplied with PPE, but from time to time we run out of something.'Nurse Oksana Drybo, from the same hospital, said it was important to understand 'why this happened'.There were insufficient supplies of disposable or reusable undergarments for nurses to wear as they treat coronavirus patients, she said.