Indian Medical Trainee Exams Postponed to Boost Personnel
India postponed exams for trainee doctors and nurses on Monday, freeing them up to fight the world’s biggest surge in COVID infections, as the health system buckles under the weight of new cases, and a lack of beds and oxygen.
The total number of infections so far rose to just short of 20 million, propelled by a 12th straight day of more than 300 000 new cases.
Actual numbers in India could be five to 10 times higher than those reported, according to medical exports.
Hospitals have been overloaded, oxygen has run short, and morgues and crematoriums have struggled with the number of corpses.
“Every time we have to struggle to get our quota of our oxygen cylinders,” said BH Narayan Rao, a district official in the southern town of Chamarajanagar, where 24 COVID patients died, some suspected from lack of oxygen.
“It’s a day-to-day fight,” added Rao, describing the struggle for supplies.
In many cases, volunteer groups have come to the rescue. Outside a temple in India’s capital, New Delhi, Sikh volunteers provided oxygen to patients lying on benches inside makeshift tents, hooked up to a giant cylinder. A new patient would come in every 20 minutes.
“No one should die because of a lack of oxygen. It’s a small thing otherwise, but nowadays, it is the one thing every one needs,” Gurpreet Singh Rummy, who runs the service, told Reuters.
Offering a glimmer of hope, the country’s health ministry said that positive cases relative to the number of tests fell on Monday for the first time since at least April 15, and modelling shows that the virus could peak on Wednesday.
While 11 states and regions have put movement curbs in place to stem transmissions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, widely criticised for allowing the crisis to spin out of control, is reluctant to announce a national lockdown, concerned about the economic impact.
“In my opinion, only a national stay at home order and declaring medical emergency will help to address the current healthcare needs,” Bhramar Mukherjee, an epidemiologist with the University of Michigan, said on Twitter.
As medical facilities near collapse, the government postponed an exam for doctors and nurses to free up some to join in the COVID fight, it said in a statement.
Prime Minister Modi has provoked criticism for not acting earlier to limit the spread and for allowing millions of people, mostly without masks, to attend religious festivals and political rallies during March and April.
In early March, a forum of government scientific advisers warned officials of a new and more contagious variant of the coronavirus taking hold, five of its members told Reuters.
Four of the scientists said in spite of the warning, the federal government did not try and impose strict curbs.
Meanwhile, in response to India’s crisis, aid has poured in. On Sunday, the UK government said it will send another 1000 ventilators to India.
Several nations have shut their borders to Indian arrival as the Indian COVID variant has now reached at least 17 countries including the UK, Iran and Switzerland.
Source: Reuters
