Nagpur: Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in his Facebook live session on Friday, had said that the state can build up infrastructure and health facilities, but it’s not possible to bring out doctors, trained health manpower to operate this system.
NGOs working in the field of health, doctors and academics told TOI this future crisis can be dealt with strict implementation of existing service rules. State AYUSH committee members said the crisis is not the issue at all and could be resolved within a day if AYUSH doctors get proper involvement in Covid services.
“This month, we will be getting 2,900 MBBS doctors coming out of medical colleges after completing their internships. As per established rules, these doctors should do one-year bond service with the state government’s public health department. If government makes it mandatory for them to complete bond service in state Covid hospitals, we will get 2,900 doctors in a day,” said Amrut Bang, executive committee member of SEARCH organization founded by Dr Abhay and Rani Bang.
Amrut has been a leading RTI activist and has managed to bring a change in the state government’s policy to ensure availability of doctors in tribal and rural areas.
“As per rules, doctors who skip the bond service have to pay Rs 10 lakh to the state government. Recovery of this amount from hundreds of doctors is pending since the last 3-4 years. If the government recovers this amount strictly, it could raise Rs500 crore,” said Amrut, adding that the said amount could be used in providing facilities to doctors ready to work in times of crisis.
Senior officials of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) seconded Bang’s claim that 2,900 doctors can be made available if bond service is implemented strictly.
Dr Manish Patil, member of AYUSH task force of Maharashtra, alleged that AYUSH doctors are neglected in this fight against Covid-19.
“In fact, they are providing service to society. AYUSH doctors are running small clinics and doing the job of counseling the people in these testing times. The state government can involve AYUSH doctors in Covid service and the problem of manpower will be resolved for sure,” said Dr Patil. While Ayurveda doctors (BAMS and MD) are performing Covid duties, homoeopathy (BHMS) are not yet involved in the process.