As Mumbai Struggles With COVID-19 Outbreak Doctors From Kerala Join The Fight

With the number of COVID-19 cases spiraling out control in Maharashtra, the state government had reached out to Kerala, which has been hailed around the world for its containment of the outbreak, to help them during the crisis.

Maharashtra had sought the services of 50 doctors and 100 nurses from Kerala and other southern states to be deployed at the jumbo facility coming up at Mahalaxmi Race Course which will have 600 beds.

Maharashtra Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) had last Saturday sent a letter to Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja, asking for the recruitment of these doctors and nurses on a ¡°temporary basis¡±.

The state had offered to pay Rs 80,000 per month for MBBS doctors, Rs 200,000 for specialists, and Rs 30,000 for nurses. On Friday, the first team of two doctors from Kerala landed in Mumbai and the rest of the medical team will join them in the coming days.

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One of them, Dr. Sajeesh Gopalan is a renowned anesthetist and intensivist and the other is Dr. S S Santhosh Kumar, deputy superintendent of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital.

Dr. Kumar's experience will be crucial as he had recently led the team of medical professionals from Thiruvananthapuram to set up a COVID-19 hospital in Kasargod, when it was the hardest hit district in Kerala.

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Dr. Kumar, who is also the vice-president of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), however, said that he was in Mumbai on a humanitarian mission and not as part of the organization.

"This is a civil society movement. We the Doctors and nurses are going to Mumbai on a humanitarian mission. Though I am vice president of Doctors without Borders south Asia Association, this mission has nothing to do with that organisation. The Doctors and nurses would be working in Mumbai for Mumbai Corporation on a voluntary basis. We would have worked even if we were not offered remuneration. And personally, I am extending my service without taking a single penny," he wrote on Facebook.

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Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope, last week, had said that the state may take lessons from Kerala which is doing quite well on the COVID-19 front compared to other states. "The structure of Maharashtra is quite different. However, some of the innovative initiatives undertaken by the Kerala health department will be discussed in Maharashtra," Tope had said after talking to Kerala Health Minister.

Earlier this month over 100 health care professionals from Kerala were flown into UAE to help that country fight the COVIDid-19 pandemic. Saudi Arabia too had received hundreds of health care professionals, mostly from Kerala to join the fight against COVID-19.