Govt may call in retired doctors and medical students for COVID 19 war

A Group of Ministers (GoM) is now considering to rope in retired doctors, experienced health professionals and even fifth-year medical students to join India's coronavirus fighter brigade, reports senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah.

New Delhi:A Group of Ministers (GoM) is closely examining the critically important proposal of increasing the number of COVID 19 ‘warriors’ by enlisting the services of retired doctors, experienced health professionals and even medical students who are in the final year of graduating from medical colleges, a top government source has told ETV Bharat.

There is a strong possibility that the plan may take off in the backdrop of the likelihood of a surge in the number of COVID 19 infections from across the country.

The proposal was discussed at GoM that began at 11 AM on Saturday at the residence of defence minister Rajnath Singh.

Appealing to people “to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suggestion by making contribution in feeding the needy people, making face masks at home and maintaining social distance”, the ministerial panel asked the people to stay away from mass prayers or religious congregations.

The meeting, chaired by Singh, was attended by at least 12 senior ministers including Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, D V Sadananda Gowda, Ram Vilas Paswan, Smriti Zubin Irani, Pralhad Joshi, Giriraj Singh, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hardeep Singh Puri and G Kishan Reddy.

The panel also reviewed the prevailing situation in the wake of extension of lockdown up to May 3 and consequently allowing partial economic activity in non-hotspot zones from April 20 onwards.

Besides obtaining feedback from various ministers, the panel appreciated the decision of gradual opening up of economic activity in areas which have not reported any Corona cases in line with the MHA guidelines issued on April 15.

“It was noted that these measures will allow for resumption of graded economic activity keeping in view local conditions within the ambit of measures to prevent spread of the virus,” the source said.

The panel also expressed appreciation on the disbursement of Rs 31,000 crore to more than 33.25 crore beneficiaries under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana’ to mitigate the problems of economically weaker sections of population.

This was the fifth time the GoM on COVID-19 has met since March 25, the inputs and feedback of which are conveyed to PM by Singh.

As of Saturday, according to the health ministry’s figures, the total number of COVID 19 positive cases in India was slowly inching towards the 14,000 mark even as 480 people have died due to the infection even as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the globe.