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Aizawl, May 12 (PTI): At a time when Mizoram is facing a manpower shortage to fight the Covid-19 crisis, over 400 people, mostly unemployed doctors, nursing students and laboratory technicians have volunteered to assist the government in dealing with the pandemic, a health department official said on Wednesday.
State health department joint director (Planning) Dr. C Lalzepuii told PTI that the state government had sought volunteers from nursing and medical institutions to quell the manpower crunch.
As many as 412 volunteers are currently engaged in Covid-19 related works such as sample collection, screening, contact tracing and giving care to Covid-19 patients in Zoram Medical College (ZMC) and Covid-19 care centres, she said.
37 trained doctors, 144 nurses, 97 health workers, 91 lab technicians, pharmacists, dialysis technicians and helpers are among the volunteers, the official said.
According to Lalzepuii, nearly 900 doctors, nursing and medical students had volunteered to deal with the pandemic in Mizoram last year.
The state government is also facing a shortage of hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients due to a surge in the number of infections, the official said.
47 Covid-19 care centres (CCCs) with a capacity of 2,295 beds and 22 community Covid-19 care centres (CCCC) with a capacity of 670 beds have been set up so far, Lalzepuii said.
A total of 41 beds are available in the two paid Covid-19 care centres of Mizoram.
While the symptomatic patients are admitted at Zoram Medical College (ZMC), which is the lone dedicated Covid-19 hospital in the state, asymptomatic patients are being taken care of at the CCCs and CCCCs.
Meanwhile, the principal of Aizawl-based regional institute of Paramedical and Nursing Science (RIPANS) Dr. H Lalrinmawia told PTI, 70 students from the institute have volunteered to join the war against Covid-19.
The institute had asked students to volunteer at the request of Health Minister Dr. R Lalthangliana, he said.
"We urged the students to volunteer after taking the consent of their parents and accordingly around 70 students from various disciplines came forward for the mission," he said.
Of the 70, 30 B.Sc nursing students are engaged in administering vaccines, while others are helping in the collection of samples, data operation and monitoring of CCCs, he said.
The Northeastern state on Wednesday reported 240 Covid-19 cases, the highest ever single-day spike in the state.
The coronavirus caseload is 8,035 and at present, there are 2,010 active Covid-19 cases in the state.
A total of 6,002 people have recovered from the disease, while 23 patients have succumbed to the infection.