KCR Asks Health Officials to Put MBBS Pass-outs On COVID Duty in Telangana Telangana MBBS Graduates May be On COVID Duty

May 10, 2021, 17:16 IST

KCR advises officials to employ MBBS graduates on a temporary basis.

KCR directed officials to use the services of 50,000 or so MBBS grads for a two-to-three-month period.

Two super-specialty hospitals, one each in Warangal and Adilabad, remained incomplete for more than a year, the CM said.

HYDERABAD: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday ordered officials to use the services of 50,000 MBBS graduates for a span of two to three months to provide a much-needed break to the state's exhausted medical and health workers.

The Chief Minister also ordered the finance department to release the pending Rs 28 crore, which has been holding up the construction of two super-specialty hospitals in Warangal and Adilabad for more than a year.

The Centre provided a grant of Rs 240 crore out of the Rs 300 crore allocated for both hospitals, but the state government has yet to provide its matching grant.

Though IT minister K.T. Rama Rao announced the issuance of orders releasing Rs 30 crore to Adilabad RIMS a few months ago, the finance department is yet to arrange the funds.

The Chief Minister directed officials to take urgent action to appoint 729 people across both hospitals.

Ministers T. Harish Rao and E. Dayakar Rao, as well as Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and other senior state officials, attended Chandrashekar Rao's review of Covid-19 containment operations at Pragati Bhavan.

The officials also told the Chief Minister that sufficient oxygen and remdesivir injections were available in the state. They say that government hospitals have 7,393 beds available, including 2,470 with oxygen and 600 with ventilators. They said that medical personnel is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with all necessary medications. On the other hand, Rao believes that remdesivir injections should be available in both public and private hospitals.

The Chief Minister directed officials to invite applications from the 50,000 or so qualified medical students who have completed their MBBS. He said nurses, lab technicians, pharmacists, and other paramedical staff should be hired right away and paid a fair wage.

Rao also said that temporary staff who volunteered to work for the government should be given weightage marks when applying for government employment. He encouraged young doctors to volunteer and help those in need.

Those interested can visit https://odls.telenagna.gov.in/medicalrecruitment/home.aspx to apply online, he said.

The Chief Minister also agreed that all white ration cardholders in the state would receive five kilograms of rice per person for two months free of charge and that the number of private teachers receiving state assistance of 2,000 rupees per month and 25 kilograms of rice would be increased from 1.2 lakh to two lakhs.