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Odisha goes all out to recruit medical professionals to fight Covid-19
A day after predicting a doomsday-like scenario of a huge number of Covid-19 positive patients by the end of May, the Odisha government flooded newspapers with advertisements for healthcare professionals to fight coronavirus.
The Odisha government on Wednesday launched a massive recruitment for thousands of doctors, nurses, paramedics and multipurpose health workers offering them lucrative remuneration to join the battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
The government flooded newspapers with advertisements for healthcare professionals a day after predicting a doomsday-like scenario of a huge number of Covid-19 positive patients by May-end. The state has reported two positive cases so far.
In its advertisement, the health and family welfare department asked qualified specialists, MBBS doctors, staff nurses and other paramedics including retired people to work on contract for next three months in the special coronavirus wards of district hospitals as well as medical colleges. While the state government wants to recruit around 8000 nurses, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, radiographers and multipurpose health workers, it also wants to rope in as many doctors as possible.
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While the specialist doctors would get Rs 5000 a day, MBBS doctors would receive Rs 3000 per day. Staff nurses, lab technicians and radiographers would get Rs 1000 a day while multipurpose health workers would be paid Rs 850 a day.
“We have given free hand to the districts to recruit as per their requirements. It’s a dynamic situation now and the number may go up,” said Bijoy Mohapatra, director of health services. Subroto Bagchi, the government spokesperson on coronavirus in Odisha, on Tuesday said if people do not adhere to a strict lockdown then there would be a minimum of 2345 and a maximum of 36,000 coronavirus-infected people by the end of May. Till Wednesday Odisha had only two positive cases.
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Bagchi said 78,233 people who have come from other states to different districts of Odisha have been told to put themselves under home quarantine. “Many of these people have returned from states which have a high population of Covid-19 infected people. It would be a mistake to assume that none of them would be carrying infections. In maximum cases the symptoms of coronavirus infections is visible in five days while in other cases it is revealed after 14 days. Since the disease is basically asymptomatic, the people who have returned from other states will have to remain in strict home isolation for 14 days,” he said.
To boost the morale of healthcare workers, chief minister Naveen Patnaik also announced advance payment of salary for four months to doctors, paramedics and workers.
In a video message issued by Health and Family Welfare department, Patnaik said, “With folded hands I venerate doctors, paramedics, workers engaged in health service. For the benefit of the health workers and their families I have directed officials to pay advance salary of April, May, June and July to doctors, paramedics and other health workers next month.”
Patnaik also warned of strict action against those who misbehave with health workers. “People must not create hindrances in their work. We must encourage and appreciate the sacrifice and service of the health workers.”
Odisha has about 6300 MBBS doctors working in various government facilities, but not all may be available to treat the coronavirus patients as some of them are senior residents in medical colleges. The sanctioned strength of doctors in government hospitals is about 11000.
Officials are also worried about the dearth of adequate number of ICU beds with ventilator and oxygen facilities. The State has just about 90 such beds (including those in private facilities) to treat Covid-19 patients who need ventilator support. The state government is currently scouting sites to build special hospitals for coronavirus with 1000 beds and 150 ICU beds. The state government is also planning to ramp up its testing facilities from two labs (RMRC and AIIMS, Bhubaneswar) to two more that can test 200 samples a day.
A senior doctor in a state government hospital said the number of positive cases in the State would spike up considerably in the coming days if lockdown is not strictly enforced. The State government has so far lodged 137 cases against people for violation of lockdown guidelines.
The number of people who have returned from abroad and registered themselves in the state government’s Covid-19 portal has risen to 4,015. Of these, the samples of 133 were sent for test. Test results of 129 samples resulted negative, two tsted positive while the results of the other two samples are awaited. However, the Odisha government is yet to trace out three of the 57 individuals in the state who had come in contact with the Covid-19 positives.
