PATNA: After migrants began returning to their native villages in Bihar amid the COVID-19 lockdown, the state government anticipates that the situation may demand the services of more doctors and paramedical staff to screen them.
The state health department has made an appeal to private doctors and their paramedical staff to join hands with the state government to fight COVID-19.
In its appeal, the health department requested physicians, MBBS doctors in clinical practice and specialists in anesthesia, cardiology, critical care, emergency medicine, pulmonary medicine (respiratory medicine) and community medicine to come forward with their paramedical staff to render services to the people of the state.
Those willing to offer their services have been requested to send a message to the district magistrate or the civil surgeon of the concerned district through email. "Your services in the time of global disaster and pandemic is precious to the people of state and the state government will remember always your services", the appeal said.
Bihar is lacking sufficient health care staff and doctors amid the Covid 19 outbreak. While the tally of cases in the state has gone up to 15, only 390 specialist doctors are on the job against the sanctioned strength of 701. In the same way, there are only 346 general doctors in govt hospitals against the sanctioned strength of 695.
There are only nine medical hospitals with a large capacity functioning against the requirement of at least 40. There are only 533 primary health centres against the requirement of at least 3,314. The number of additional PHCs in the state is around 1,350 against the required strength of 2,787 and only 9,729 health sub centres are functional against the requirement of 20,997.
The state health department has brought 15,000 thermal screening kits to camps put up at the the borders of state. As per official figures, 2376 passengers have been put under observation, with the highest number of 648 from Siwan district, famous for sending the highest number of overseas migrants.
Meanwhile, Khemnichak mohalla in Patna and Patelpur village in Lakhisarai district have been sealed with bamboos after the detection of positive cases. All entry points of these two areas have been sealed and police forces deputed to prevent the movement of anyone.
More than two dozen villages have blocked the entry roads with bamboos in Bihar to prevent the entry of outsiders or migrants without medical tests.