Bhubaneswar: In a bid to meet the rising demands of health professionals in the wake of coronavirus outbreak, the state government has trained 8,325 medical and nursing students for Covid-19 duty.
This was revealed during a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy at Lok Seva Bhawan here.
Health and Family Welfare secretary Nikunja Bihari Dhal said, the medical students of 7th, 8th and 9th semesters have volunteered for Covid duty and as of now 8,325 students from MBBS, AYUSH and nursing wings have also been trained for Covid-19 care.
Labour & ESI secretary Anu Garg said that so far 8,023 doctors, 8,296 staff nurses, 4,105 paramedics and lab technicians, 4,114 AYUSH doctors, 4,905 ambulance drivers, 1,35,820 ANM/ASHA/AWW workers, 7,236 cleaning staff have been enlisted as Covid-19 work force. More than 90 per cent of this work force has been trained, she said.
Besides, 108 doctors, 64 staff nurse and 61 pharmacists from ESI and private sector hospitals have also been trained, Garg said.
At the grassroots level 33,900 functionaries of Temporary Medical Camps (TMCs) set up in different gram panchayats have also been trained about management of TMCs, health, nutrition, water and sanitation. They have also been oriented towards care of children, women and trauma shocks. Around 753 counsellors have been trained for psycho-social support to the patients and their family.
“The work force has been trained with Covid-19 basics, field surveillance, epidemiology, critical care and treatment of Covid patients, ICU management of the patients, infection and prevention control,” Garg said. The training modules have been designed as per the research input and guidelines from ICMR, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and AIIMS. Training coordinator Jayanta Panda said, “The training has instilled confidence among the doctors, paramedics and support staff, and, now they are ready to fight any situation.”
Besides, Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) in coordination with UNFPA and Unicef has also trained 2,471 volunteers to assist the process of Covid management.
The Chief Secretary inaugurated the Odisha Covid-19 Workforce portal during the meeting. He lauded the tireless efforts of Garg and her team in HR and Capacity Building Committee for accomplishing a huge task within very limited time span in most befitting manner.