Officials had said that such volunteers would be deployed in the makeshift hospitals being created in Gurgaon to augment the district’s health infrastructure as Covid cases continue to surge.
Ten days after the Gurgaon District Administration appealed to doctors, nurses, MBBS students and retired health workers to come forward and volunteer their services amidst the Covid pandemic, officials said only 20 people have been added to the ranks of healthcare staff in the district through this means so far.
“Although we have received 100 applications on the portal so far, only 50 of these were found to be people related to the medical line. Out of these 50, only 20 were found to be eligible and have been deployed for treatment of Covid patients. They have already started their duties,” said Yash Garg, Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon.
It was on April 27 that the district administration first appealed to doctors, nurses, MBBS students as well as retired government doctors, private doctors and those retired from the Armed Forces Medical Services who may be “fit and willing” to volunteer their services to apply for the same via a portal.
Officials had said that such volunteers would be deployed in the makeshift hospitals being created in Gurgaon to augment the district’s health infrastructure as Covid cases continue to surge.
Volunteers have to fill out a form listing their personal details, such as name, email ID, contact number and age, whether they are residents of Gurgaon, and their qualification, with the options including MBBS, MD/MS, B.Pharmacy, BSc. Nursing, and Experience Health Worker. They also have to list their “preferred medium of support” – “In-person” or “Tele-consultation” – as well as the “earliest date” on which they can start volunteering.
“I appeal once again to volunteer doctors, retired doctors, medical students, and nursing staff to extend a helping hand. In this hour of crisis, the role of medical staff is very important. In order to provide better health facilities to the people in the district, it is necessary that doctors, health workers and medical students come forward to support the administration,” said Garg.
“The current situation of Coronavirus is concerning. Every effort is being made by the district administration to provide better health facilities but, in view of the present conditions, everyone should come forward and cooperate. The need of the hour is that medical man power and infrastructure be strengthened,” he said.
Gurgaon has, over the last few weeks, been seeing a massive surge in Covid cases. The district currently has 39,000 active cases, of which 36,449 are in home isolation. The number of fatalities has reached 567, with the highest spike in fatalities being recorded on Friday, when 17 people succumbed to the infection. The silver lining on the day, however, lay in the fact that the number of those who recovered from Coronavirus exceeded the number of new cases – while 3,588 people tested positive for Coronavirus, 4,253 recovered from it.
