Service during a pandemic can be stressful for those who work on the front lines. The situation is no different for the medical staff at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam, (MCH) who work relentlessly to make Kottayam free of COVID-19.
However, they do not want to rest on the laurels. Instead, they now look to pack their bags and join the activities in Kasaragod -- a hotspot of the disease in Kerala.
Officials say the MCH authorities would soon submit a list of medical staff who have expressed their willingness to work in Kasaragod to the Health Department. The government, on its part, has shown interest in the proposal and “asked them to be ready”.
Among those who have evinced interest in the service included 12 nurses and five nursing assistants, who were part of the first batch on duty at the corona isolation ward here.
The list would be prepared taking into consideration the staff requirement at the hospital here.
“They will be divided into five teams, each comprising two doctors, two nurses, and a nursing assistant and called into service as soon as the tenure of the current team at Kasaragod expires,” says a top MCH official.
The officials say the tenure of each team would be limited to 14 days, following which the team members would have to remain in isolation for the next two weeks. So far, two batches of nurses have completed their duty term at the isolation ward at the MCH.
The other day, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Health Minister K.K.Shylaja lauded Papa Henry, a staff nurse here, who expressed interest in joining COVID-care duty anywhere in Kerala.
