Nursing students to man ICU wards

Nursing students to man ICU wards

All Existing Beds In Delhi Govt Covid Hospitals To Be Connected With Oxygen Supply

AlokKNMishra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: 20.06.2020

To better manage the ICU wards in its Covid hospitals, Delhi government has decided to deploy within four days final-year postgraduate and undergraduate nursing students in these wards for six months.

All final-year postgraduate doctors studying in Delhi’s PG medical institutions will also be deployed in the state government’s Covid hospitals for the same period.

The decisions were taken in a meeting deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia held on Friday with senior health department officials to discuss the augmentation of the ICU beds in the capital. Currently, over 850 Covid-19 patients are admitted to ICU.

The government has also decided to connect all existing beds in its Covid hospitals with oxygen supply in the next 10 days.

As most of the PG medical institutions in Delhi are affiliated with Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University, Mahesh Verma, its vicechancellor, has been appointed for the recruitment and deployment of the required number of final-year MD/MS/DNB and nursing students. “Verma is also authorised to recommend necessary stipend payable to the recruits,” stated the order issued by Sisodia, who is in charge of the health department in the absence of health minister Satyendra Jain. All recruitments will be completed in four days.

The number of Covid-19 cases has surged past 50,000 in the capital, increasing the demand for ICU beds in government hospitals. “Hence, it was decided to ramp up the ICU infrastructure at the earliest,” an official said. The biggest problem, as reported in the meeting, is the shortage of the manpower to run ICU beds, he added.

“Most of the existing beds currently have oxygen supply and in the next 10 days, the rest will have the facility,” said Sisodia. “If any hospital is in urgent need of any kind, the government will fully support it. The medical chiefs of all hospitals have been directed to increase their bed capacity and all other requirements because the coronavirus cases are rising in the city,” he added.

Beds with oxygen supply will also be installed at the newly constructed Ambedkar Hospital.

MANISH SISODIA SAYS

Medical chiefs of all hospitals have been directed to boost their bed capacity and all other requirements