Leading cardiac surgeon and chairman and founder of Narayana Health, Devi Shetty has expressed concern on the rising number of COVID-19 cases. In an article published in a leading newspaper he has mentioned that India has become the third country in the world to cross one million COVID-19 cases, as on July 17 and at the current doubling time of 21 days, the tally could rise to two million by early August. Leading epidemiologists have predicted that by the end of 2020, India will have crossed millions of COVID-19 infected patients which will be far more humongous than the current numbers. He has also warned the nation to be prepared for the worst and pray for the best. “The lockdown in India was really a far-sighted decision because it allowed the whole country to come to terms with the reality of this pandemic and also got some time to prepare for the COVID-19 onslaught. Now the debates of exporting PPE’s kits and ventilators are prevailing, which India was struggling to manage a couple of months ago. After achieving the milestone here it’s now the time to put more attention towards reducing mortality, especially in rural India,” he states further.

Dr Shetty also mentions that our COVID-19 frontline warrior doctors and nurses working mainly in government and some private hospitals won the first round of the battle with the pandemic. They did an outstanding job at a very early stage of the outbreak. Today these doctors are facing lynching’s across the country. As media projects, there is a shortage of young specialist doctors and nurses in both private and government hospitals treating COVID-19 patients rather than focusing on the shortage of beds. In the published piece, Dr Shetty has also suggested ideas which can be implemented in the battle against the pandemic.

Who can take care of sick COVID-19 patients?

Doctors who have worked in a critical care unit for at least two years and less than 50 years old and fit can do so. They should have the skill of monitoring lines into blood vessels and maintaining vitals, to paralyse a patient, insert a tube into the lungs to ventilate. These are extremely skilled jobs. A minor mistake can endanger the patient’s life or their own lives.In order to manage 1000 private and government hospitals with a capacity of 200 beds, at least 50,000-75,000 young MBBS doctors are needed who have gained experience in medical ICU or surgical ICU or coronary care unit, accident and emergency rooms after their internship. For a 200 bed COVID-19 hospital, at least 50-75 specialist doctors, 500 nurses are needed who will rotate their shifts timely.

How to get 50,000 young trained specialist doctors for COVID-19 ICUs?

Around 20% of doctors are needed to handle the ICU’s cases and 80% should have the knowledge to interpret the data from the cardiac monitor, biochemical and haematology results, and act on them. Medical talent may get managed from these sources:

  • According to Dr Manoj Gupta, ambassador of DNB Doctors Association that 25,000 young medical specialists who completed three years of training in clinical specialities in teaching hospitals under MCI or DNB banner and are waiting for the final exams can serve COVID-19 patients in district hospitals for a year if exempted from the exams.
  • 3,000 doctors who underwent a fellowship programme for 2-3 years after the internship in large private hospitals and acquired great skills can work in COVID-19 hospitals in districts provided the Medical Council of India (MCI) recognises them as “intensivists”, says Dr Dhruva Choudhury, president of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine
  • 1,200 young medical specialists who after internship spent 3 years working in emergency rooms under the Society of Emergency Medicine can work in COVID-19 hospitals for one year provided MCI recognises them as emergency medicine specialists.
  • 1,700 young specialist doctors who after the internship spent 2 years in large heart hospitals and gained experience in non-interventional cardiology and coronary care units can work in COVID-19 ICU for a year, provided their diploma degree is recognised by MCI says Dr Rajesh Rajan, chairman of Association of Clinical Cardiologists.
  • 90,000 Indian doctors who are trained in Russia and China couldn’t clear the Indian exit exam and are working as physician assistants in critical care units across India. Among which we select 20,000 brightest young doctors and make an offer to work as junior doctors in COVID-19 hospitals for a year in return for exemption from the exam.
  • There are about 2 lakhs final year nursing students who are waiting at home for the final exam can work in COVID-19 hospitals provided they are exempted from the final exam and recognised as ICU nurse practitioner on additional 1 year of ICU service.

Large floating skilled workforce of doctors and nurses is the need of the hour specially to protect rural India. Government jobs may not attract the young MBBS doctors but postgraduate degrees will. Through this offer, a few thousand precious lives can be saved.