Coronaviurs: Maharashtra requests Kerala for 50 specialist doctors and 100 nurses

The Maharashtra government has requested the Kerala government to provide 50 specialist doctors and 100 nurses on a temporary basis to treat Covid-19 patients in Mumbai and Pune. Maharashtra said it will pay ₹80,000 per month for MBBS doctors, ₹2 lakh for MD/MS specialist doctors and ₹30,000 for nurses.

As Maharashtra grapples with the increase in Covid-19 cases unabated, the state has sought Kerala’s assistance in the managing the pandemic in Mumbai, requesting 50 experienced doctors and 100 nurses from the southern state.

In a letter to Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja, the Director of Medical Education & Research, Maharashtra, Dr T.P. Lahane requested for expert doctors and nurses for managing the 600-bed dedicated Covid-19 centre being set up at Mumbai’s Mahalakshmi Race Course. The facility includes a 125- bed ICU. Patients with moderate symptoms are being admitted at this healthcare centre.

The letter says healthcare workers in Mumbai are working at full capacity and with the likelihood of Covid-19 cases increasing in the densely populated cities of Mumbai and Pune, there is a need for more doctors and nurses in the state.

Maharashtra on Sunday reported its highest-single day spike in Covid-19 cases taking the state’s tally to 50,231. The state reported 3,014 new cases today. Of these, Mumbai alone reported 30,542 cases along with 988 deaths.

Maharashtra will provide accommodation, meals, required medicine and personal protective equipment to these doctors and nurses.

The state has offered to pay the MBBS doctors ₹80,000 a month and ₹2 lakh per month for MD/MS specialist doctors, which include physicians and intensivists. Trained nursing staff will be paid ₹30,000 a month.

On 18 May, Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope had called on Kerala’s Health Minister to discuss the measures being taken by Kerala in its covid-19 fight.

Mint had on 12 May reported that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region may call around 5,000 doctors from other districts in Maharashtra to help fight Covid-19 in the city and give some rest to its overworked doctors, said two doctors working with the state government.

With Covid-19 cases increasing daily, the medical fraternity is over worked and fatigued, and pooling in more doctors would ensure appropriate rest to the existing ones.

Currently, around 11,000 doctors, government and private, are assisting the state in fighting the Pandemic. On 6 May, the state had asked the city’s private medical practitioners to report to work immediately and mandatorily to serve Covid-19 patients for at least 15 days. Till 11 May, the state had received 7,000 applications for the same.