23,000 Health Professionals Enrol To Volunteer In Punjab

CHANDIGARH: About 23,000 qualified health professionals, including 935 doctors, have volunteered to help the Punjab government fight Covid-19 pandemic, giving much needed help to the overstretched workforce in the time of need.

With 72 positive cases and seven deaths till Sunday evening, Punjab is second worst hit in the region after Haryana and ranked 14th in the overall national tally. The outbreak of deadly virus has put the tremendous load on the state’s health infrastructure.

Facing shortage of doctors, the state government had last week appealed to medical professionals — specialists, MBBS and ayurveda doctors, nurses, lab technicians, pharmacists, radiographers, ANM and ward attendants — to come forward and join the efforts. Those interested in volunteering their service were asked to register on the official website of the health department.

As on Friday, 49 specialists — medicine (34), chest and TB (3), emergency medicine (10) and anaesthesia (2) — 518 MBBS medical officers and 368 ayureveda medical officers enrolled on the health department’s website as volunteers. In addition to doctors, 6,040 staff nurses, 2,023 lab technicians, 2,503 pharmacists, 243 radiographers, 2836 auxiliary nurse midwifery (ANM) and 8,201 ward attendants have offered their services. All the volunteers will be provided online training for which the health department has prepared a module.

As the state is grappling with shortage of doctors, the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) asserted that a good number of doctors volunteering their service would give a boost to the government in its fight against coronavirus.

PCMSA president Dr Gagandeep Singh said that additional workforce of doctors and paramedic staff will help the government in developing a backup, which at present is not there. “More human resource the government has at its disposal, better it is,” said Dr Gagandeep, who urged the government to ensure continues supply of safety equipments for doctors and other medical staff.-Times Of India