Noted cardiac surgeon and the chairman and founder of Narayana Health, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty has warned that the Covid-19 situation in India will soon worsen. Dr Devi Prasad Shetty predicted that India will need an extra 5 lakh ICU beds, 2 lakh nurses and 1.5 lakh doctors in the coming few weeks. At present, the country has only 75,000 to 90,000 ICU beds. And these are almost are already occupied. Dr Devi Prasad Shetty said this while addressing Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series in Pune.
“I am having sleepless nights for the next headline, which is going to be that patients are dying in ICUs because there are no nurses and doctors to take care of the patients. And this is going to happen. I do not doubt it now,” said Dr Shetty.
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“So you can just imagine what the scenario is. Know what we need to do? We need to create at least five lakh additional ICU beds in the next few weeks. Unfortunately, beds do not treat patients. We need nurses, doctors and paramedics in that order”, said Dr Shetty.
“Now, we need to produce at least two lakh nurses and at least one and a half lakh doctors in the next few weeks who are dedicated to managing COVID for the next one year. Because the current pandemic is likely to last for about 4 to 5 months. And then we should be prepared for the third wave,” he added.
Dr Shetty suggested that at present there are about 2.20 lakh nursing students who have finished their three-year GNM (General Nursing and Midwifery) or four-year B Sc courses and are preparing for their exam scheduled to take place in the next few weeks. So the Ministry of Health, along with the Indian Nursing Council, should consider these students as graduates and deploy them to work. Dr.Shetty also suggested that the government should make use of around 1.30 lakh young doctors who were preparing for NEET exams . They should be offered a chance during the next year’s PG selection if they work in the COVID ICU for one year.
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