Punjab: 300 ad hoc Senior Resident posts sanctioned for 3 GMCs to fight COVID

Chandigarh - Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday sanctioned 300 Adhoc posts for three state-run medical colleges in Pariala, Faridkot and Amritsar to handle critical coronavirus patients.

The nod came after K K Talwar, the state government's health adviser and former PGIMER director, said 100 staff members, mainly senior resident doctors and assistant professors, were required by the Medical Education Department in each of the college on an urgent basis to handle the patients.

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Responding to Talwar's submission, the CM immediately sanctioned 300 posts, directing the department to make adhoc appointments by hiring graduating students as senior residents, an official statement said. These appointments can be subject to their clearance of exams later, he suggested, adding that for assistant professors, walk-in selections can be considered to overcome the immediate shortfall. The CM issued the directives during a video conference meeting to review the virus situation in the state, the government release said.

Stating that approval has already been given to the Health Department to fill 6,000 vacancies, Singh asked to expedite the recruitment process at all levels, including doctors, anaesthetists, nurses, lab technicians and ward boys. Earlier, in his presentation, Talwar said the government medical colleges and district hospitals with Level-III facilities needed to be quickly filled up with senior residents/junior faculty in anaesthesia/medicine/any required discipline for COVID-19.

The CM also accepted the suggestion that one faculty member from anaesthesia/critical care units should be on round-the-clock duty to give the best possible care to sick patients in ICUs.

With the pandemic peaking in the state and projections grim for the coming weeks, the CM also directed the departments to ensure that samples of symptomatic cases are taken on a priority and all tests reports are submitted within 12 hours. Pointing out that any delay could prove costly in positive cases, he urged people to dial 104 at the first sign of symptoms or concern. Expressing concern over reports of rising mortality due to the "delay in many cases", the CM asked the Health Department to take all steps to spread awareness among people on the need for timely intervention.

The chief minister asked the department to go in for aggressive testing, exhaustive contact tracing, treatment and active surveillance in the micro-containment areas. He also underlined the need to boost sample collection across the state, which had, till June 21, tested a total of 2,39,995 samples.

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