COVID-19: Worst-hit Maharashtra seeks Kerala’s expertise

Maharashtra's Health Minister Rajesh Tope has requested Kerala's Health and Social Welfare Minister K. K. Shailaja for a 50-member team of specialist doctors and nurses to assist the Maharashtra health authorities.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has formally written to the Kerala government seeking assistance to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in the worst-hit Mumbai-Pune industrial-commercial belt.

The development came days after Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope spoke to Kerala’s Health and Social Welfare Minister K. K. Shailaja and discussed the COVID-19 pandemic challenges.

Now, the Maharashtra government has sent an official letter seeking doctors and nurses for the pandemic crisis here.

Dr T.P. Lahane, Director, Medical Education and Research, — who is the Nodal Officer, COVID-19 — has said in the near future, the number of cases are expected to increase in Mumbai and Pune.

He has requested Minister Shailaja for a 50-member team of specialist doctors and nurses to assist the Maharashtra health authorities.

For their services, Maharashtra is prepared to pay MBBS doctors Rs 80,000 a month and Rs 2 lakh per month for MD/MS specialist doctors, which include physicians and intensivists.

For the Trained nursing staff, the state will pay Rs 30,000 a month.

The Maharashtra government will also provide accommodation, meals, required medicine and personal protective equipment to all the visiting doctors and nurses.

“In view of the emerging situation, the Maharashtra government has decided to set up a 600-bedded COVID Health Care Center at Mahalakshmi Race Course in Mumbai City. It also included a 125 bedded ICU,” says the letter by Lahane.

The state has also made available the service of private medical practitioners but still requires the service of many more doctors and nurses.

Lahane also mentioned that he spoke with Santhosh Kumar, Vice President of Doctors Without Borders in South Asia, who had agreed to help in providing the required healthcare professionals to this state.