Mumbai: With surging coronavirus cases in Mumbai and sensing rise in demand of doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner has decided to hire private doctors and nurses to treat patients at various isolation and quarantine facilities.
The move comes after many frontline medical workers, doctors and nurses testing positive for coronavirus leading to many top hospitals shutting down temporarily.
BMC chief Praveen Pardeshi has empowered assistant municipal commissioners (AMC), chief medical superintendent, deans, executive health officer (EHO) and deputy municipal commissioners (DMC)to hire the medical staff.
The civic body will also hire paramedical staff, ward boys and other health staff after due verification of their educational qualification, as per a directive issued on Tuesday by Pardeshi.
According to the directive, doctors (intensivists)will be paid a monthly remuneration of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh, doctors (MBBS, BAMS and BHMS) will be paid Rs 80,000, Rs 60,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively depending on their qualification, for eight-hour duty every day.
Besides this, nurses, lab technicians and pharmacists will be paid Rs 30,000 per month, while the ward boys and other medical labour staff will be paid Rs 20,000 for eight hours duty.
At Bhatia Hospital, under containment since Wednesday, 14 staffers, including 10 nurses, two doctors and a physiotherapist, tested positive, leading to it being sealed. Besides this, 21 staff members, including nurses and a security guard, have tested positive at Jaslok Hospital.
Two nurses tested positive at Dadar’s Shushrusha Hospital. Following which six others including two doctors and four nurses from the same hospital tested positive and 100 others have been quarantined.
