Govt contemplates hiring 1.5k doctors, 6k nurses

Govt contemplates hiring 1.5k doctors, 6k nurses

Chethan.Kumar@timesgroup.com

01.07.2020

Bengaluru: The government may hire 1,500 doctors and 6,000 nurses, besides reserving one in four beds in every hospital that has a minimum 200 beds to treat the infected.

These were moot points at a meeting between experts and chief minister BS Yediyurappa last week. While the government has already decided to implement some of the recommendations, the CM has sought a formal report from Dr Devi Shetty and Dr CN Manjunath, both of whom participated in the meeting, before taking a decision on hiring doctors and nurses.

Shetty had suggested the government “hire/recruit 50 doctors and 200 nurses for each district hospital,” and to identify doctors with a minimum two years of experience in handling ICU facilities.

“...To use the services of MBBS doctors with fellowship in critical care medicine as a long-term strategy and to enforce a policy to reserve a minimum of 50 beds in hospitals with 200 beds or more,” Shetty said, according to the minutes of Friday’s meeting.

P Ravikumar, principal secretary, chief minister’s office (CMO), told TOI: “These are extraordinary times and the government will act on the suggestions immediately once the report comes in.”

Further, more than one of the four experts present at the meeting recommended that the government set up tele-ICUs at each district.

“Tele-ICU is the best model adopted in the state and action will be taken to ensure tele-ICU facilities in all the district hospitals, including Bengaluru,” chief secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar said.

Dr Giridhara Babu, professor, Indian Institute of Public Health, aside from recommending tele-ICUs, also said the government must keep at least 5,000 beds ready in the next two months, while Dr MK Sudharshan suggested that the government supply immunity boosters to patients and engage health workers or volunteers at the ward and booth level to tackle the pandemic in Bengaluru.

While Karnataka has more than 1.2 lakh registered doctors, sources say not more than 5% are with the government. As per an earlier analysis by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI), of the more than 1 lakh doctors in Karnataka in 2018, only 5,047 or 4.8% were with the government.