Doctors in Mumbai will now have to serve coronavirus patients for 15 days mandatorily. If they fail to do so, they risk losing their medical licence. However, BMC has allowed exemption to doctors above 55 years of age and the ones with co-morbidities including diabetes, hypertension and heart ailments.
Dr TP Lahane, Director of Medical Education and Research in Mumbai has written to doctors asking them for their service. Doctors will have to fill a form stating their eligibility, Maharashtra Medical Council registration number, their current posting and the preferred place to serve COVID-19 patients and mail it to BMC. The order will be effective for registered medical practitioners in Mumbai and suburban districts.
" We've asked all private doctors, who are below 55 yrs of age and not having any comorbidity and who closed their clinics due to lockdown, to work for 15 days to provide COVID-19 treatment. They'll be paid and provided with protective gears," said Dr Lahane.
Non-adherence to the order will be considered a breach of the MCI Code of Ethics that is administered to doctors when they receive their degree. Action will be taken according to the provisions in the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897 and other acts.
Many doctors had to pull the shutters amid the coronavirus lockdown. Moreover, many doctors and healthcare professionals have contracted the virus while treating corona patients, leading many hospitals to close.
Also read: Coronavirus: Mumbai hospitals face bed, medical personnel shortage as cases rise
Meanwhile, the private and public health care facilities are spread thin as coronavirus cases surge. Additionally, Maharashtra Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday asked Thane district authorities to set up a 1,000-bed hospital in the next three weeks to fight coronavirus.
Maharashtra had reported 15,525 cases out of which 617 have died and 2,819 people have been discharged, as per latest Health Ministry data.
Also read: Lockdown 3.0: Liquor shops in Mumbai shut again; only essential shops open
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