Jharkhand plans second line of defence against Covid-19

Dhritiman Ray | TNN | May 5, 2020, 05:00 IST

Ranchi: With the fight against Covid 19 becoming long drawn and frontline health workers facing the risk of being infected, the state government is now planning a second line of defence against the virus, by recruiting more health workers.
On Monday, the state health mission’s human resources cell floated advertisements seeking applications for the post of microbiologists to man Jharkhand’s four Covid-19 sample testing facilities in Ranchi, Itki, Jamshedpur and Dhanbad. The move comes within a week after a lab technician at Rims’ microbiology department tested positive for the virus.
Avani Prasad, the nodal officer of National Health Mission’s Jharkhand human resources cell, said, “With health workers facing the risk of being infected, we will need more manpower in the coming days. Hence, a second line of microbiologists will be prepared.”
He said the state health department plans to hire around 12 microbiologists on a contract basis for a period of three to eight months. The aspirants need to be under 55 years of age and bonafide state residents.
At present, the testing centers at Rims microbiology department in Ranchi, PMCH in Dhanbad, MGMMCH in Jamshedpur and Itki TB Sanitorium have 10 microbiologists in total. With the high number of samples, the scarce manpower is stretched to its functional limits, health officials said. At a meeting of doctors with chief minister Hemant Soren last month, Rims director Dr D K Singh had sought more manpower for the Rims testing facility.
Besides hiring microbiologists on contract, the department also plans to press 273 paramedics as volunteers in the Covid-19 duty. The paramedics, all Jharkhand residents, are stationed across various parts of the country. Departmental officials said they have recently sought Union health ministry’s clearance in using their services. Apart from paramedics, hospital managers and data entry operators are also likely to be hired.
However, the department’s efforts can be hit by apprehension of job security and low salary amounts among the applicants. Most recently, the South Eastern Railways’ Ranchi division had advertised for hiring doctors on contract for three months to man its Covid isolation facility in Hatia and the 60 isolation coaches. However, none turned up. Conceding it as a hindrance in the department’s plans, an official said, “Let’s see. We can only hope for the best.”