India will need 5L ICU beds, 3.5L med staff in next few weeks: Noted surgeon

Forecasting that the COVID19 pandemic is only going to get worse noted surgeon Dr Devi Prasad Shetty has said India will need an extra 5 lakh ICU beds 2 lakh nurses and 15 lakh doctors in the next few weeks and also suggested radical solutions to meet the mountainous challengeAt present India has only 75000 to 90000 ICU beds and almost all are already occupied when the second wave of the pandemic hasnt even reached its peak yet he said India is reporting about 35 lakh cases a day and some experts say the number could go up to 5 lakh cases daily at its peakWhile most of the newspaper headlines and prime time television coverage has been over the lack of oxygen for the patients in ICUs 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 he saidAnd this is going to happen I do not doubt it now said Dr Shetty the chairman and founder of Narayana Health a chain of 21 medical centres in India in his online address at the Symbiosis Golden Jubilee Lecture Series in Pune recentlyHe pointed out that for every patient who is tested positive there are 5 to 10 people who are positive but not tested That means more than 15 to 20 lakh people are getting infected every day in India even now Statistically five per cent of the positive patients need an ICU bed irrespective of their age On an average a patient in ICU spends at least 10 days thereSo 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 he saidUnfortunately beds do not treat patients We need nurses doctors and paramedics in that order he said pointing out that managing COVID patients successfully in ICUs depends mostly on nurses not doctorsEven before the start of the pandemic government hospitals across the country had a shortage of 78 per cent of medical specialistsNow 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 saidDr Shetty then proceeded to provide outofthebox solutions for meeting that need He said India has about 220 lakh nursing students who have finished their threeyear GNM General Nursing and Midwifery or fouryear B Sc courses in various nursing schools and colleges across the country who are preparing for their exam scheduled to take place in the next few weeksHe suggested that the Ministry of Health along with the Indian Nursing Council should consider these students as graduates and deploy them to work in COVID ICU wards for one year after which they will be given graduation certificates They could also be given preference over others in government jobs he saidTake the approach of drafting for the armed forces when there is an impending war with the enemy country This is not peacetime It is wartimeIf that is done I am convinced most of these girls and boys will join the fight against COVID The battle cannot be won by doctors of my age No war can be bought by fought by people of my age You need young people Most of them are vaccinated and they are naturally in a better position to fight COVID in case they get itHe said there are also 130 lakh young doctors today working not in COVID ICUs but preparing for NEET exams to get into postgraduate courses where only 35000 positions are available An online test for NEET should be conducted immediately and results declared in a few daysAfter allowing the 35000 seats there will be still one lakh young doctors who are left out who didnt get the PG seats They should be offered a chance during the next years PG selection if they work in the COVID ICU for one year he saidAdditionally there are about 25000 doctors who have finished their postgraduate training and havent yet appeared for the exam This batch of medical specialists should be told that they can skip the exam and get the degree provided they work in the COVID ICUs for one year he suggestedAlso there are between 90000 to one lakh doctors who graduated from overseas universities who havent been able to pass a national entrance exam Identify 20000 brightest of these kids and ask them to work in COVID ICU for one year for getting a permanent registration he said If we can do this successfully in the next few weeks believe me we would have conquered the COVID battle Otherwise the consequences can be very very very serious mainly because just admitting a patient in a COVID ICU and giving him some oxygen is not going to save their life he concludedWhen the oxygen drops they need proning And somebody has to monitor their blood gases All this is done by nurses and junior doctorsThe current doctors and nurses who are taking care of COVID patients across the country have done a fantastic job during the first wave Now they are tired They are fed up They are burnt out A number of them are getting infectedUnless we create a parallel workforce for COVID ICUs believe me there can be a problem he said He acknowledged that all his speculation about the number of COVID patients and the estimate of ICU beds needed may be wrong But what if I am right and it is too lateThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever