Maharashtra has prepared huge isolation centres and ramped up testing to counter the spread.
The Maharashtra government has asked 25,000 private doctors in Mumbai to report to hospitals treating COVID-19 patients immediately. The doctors will be provided protective gear and will be paid for working in an emergency, the state government's Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) said in a notice.
With most private clinics across the city closed because of the pandemic, the government wants to enlist the services of the doctors as it ramps up capacity by building temporary isolation and quarantine centres for COVID-19 patients. Doctors above the age of 55 have been exempted from the move.
"Your expert services are required for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 patients at least for 15 days. You shall therefore convey your willingness and place of choice where you would like to render your services to Dr.Milind Kamble at the following address, under intimation to this directorate. Non-attendance of duty will be considered as breach of MCO Code of ethics that we administered at the time of obtaining degree and action will be initiated according to provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and other acts referred above," the notice signed by Dr TP Lahane, the director of DMER said.
Dr Rajesh Bijlani, a surgeon who has received the notice told NDTV, "I can understand the government needs doctors to help in this epidemic and we doctors have always stood by our people in crisis situations. One area of concern however is our non-COVID patients who have been silently suffering as lockdown has adversely affected other areas of healthcare delivery to the community and recruiting some of us consultants who have stretched ourselves out to continue to treat them and recruiting us might further harm them."
Dr Sanjay Nagral, senior Mumbai-based surgeon told NDTV, "Conceptually the state has the right to invoke laws to insist on private doctors participating in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. After all this is a national emergency, this is for the greater good and it is like many countries during the wars push people to enlist. Conceptually this is a sound move. The other basis for this is that we must remember that government finds a lot of medical education directly or indirectly so in a sense this is also a pay back. As government insists on bonds for rural service, this is also a kind of payback."
However senior doctors also raised a number of concerns. For example many doctors with specialist training say they can't fathom how their services will be put to use to treat COVID-19 patients. Dr Om Shrivastav, Consultant, Infectious Diseases, told NDTV, "It's not just about enlisting the doctor. Treating something as infectious as COVID-19 requires training and that is something the state will have to do as well as they enlist the services of private doctors to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic."
With more than 16,000 coronavirus cases of which 10,000 in Mumbai alone, Maharashtra has been the worst-hit state in the coronavirus pandemic. The state government has prepared huge isolation centres and ramped up testing to counter the spread.