E-Paper
PM Modi lauds doctors for Covid fight, suggests regular oxygen audits
In a virtual meeting attended by doctors from J&K, Jaipur and Imphal, the PM lauded the medical experts for “continuously fighting this long battle against the virus” and said that it must be “mentally challenging for the medical fraternity, but the power of faith of citizens stands with them in this fight”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged doctors to include an oxygen audit in their daily routines, form groups with MBBS students to provide telemedicine services in rural areas, and called for extra efforts to spread awareness about mucormycosis, or the black fungus disease, according to a government statement.
In a virtual meeting attended by doctors from J&K, Jaipur and Imphal, the PM lauded the medical experts for “continuously fighting this long battle against the virus” and said that it must be “mentally challenging for the medical fraternity, but the power of faith of citizens stands with them in this fight”.
Modi also said that 90% of India’s frontline Covid-19 workers have been inoculated in a vaccination strategy that has paid “rich dividends”.
The doctors, during the interaction, pointed out that in the prolonged fight against Covid, every effort was being made to also take proper care of non-Covid patients, the government statement said.
With some parts of India reeling facing a shortage of medical oxygen and ICU beds, the PM told doctors to include an oxygen audit in their daily routines, and discussed how the treatment of Covid-19 patients in home isolation should be done through a standard operating procedure, or SOP.
With tele-consultancy gaining importance during the pandemic, Modi said that such services need to be expanded in rural areas as well. “He lauded the doctors who are forming teams and providing telemedicine service in villages. He appealed to doctors across the states to form similar teams, train final year MBBS students and MBBS interns, and work towards ensuring that all tehsils and districts of the country have telemedicine service,” said the official media release.
This was the third interaction between the PM and the doctors during the pandemic.
The doctors thanked the PM for prioritising the health care workers for vaccination and underlined that in the fight against Covid, and shared their experiences of increasing awareness among the public, including about sensitising patients, against the improper use of medicines, the release said.
On Tuesday, Modi will be interacting with field officials from states and districts to talk about their experience in handling the pandemic. Officials said the meeting was aimed at sharing best practises, and suggesting ways and means to fight Covid-19 particularly in semi-urban and rural areas.
Officials from Karnataka, Bihar, Assam, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, MP, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, and Delhi will take participate in the meeting.
