Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday ordered a three-month extension for all retiring doctors and specialists under 60 to cope with the increase in COVID-19 cases, the state government said.
He also asked state chief secretary Vini Mahajan to speed up the process of recruitment of technicians and lab assistants in the state to cope with the surge in COVID-19 cases.
As per the government, these doctors were earlier given extension till September 30, which has now been extended till December 31.
During a virtual meeting with top officials and medical experts, the chief minister pointed out that the health department is already supporting the Government Medical Colleges with specialist manpower pending recruitment by the Medical Education Department.
The CM also directed the formation of committees, for distribution of food packets to poor families under home isolation/quarantine, in order to encourage testing, as these families generally avoid getting tested for Covid-19 as they fear losing their meagre earnings, it added further.
In a series of measures to tackle the pandemic in the state, it was decided in the meeting to reduce the stress of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and at homes. It has been decided that government hospitals would now permit serious COVID-19 patients with special dietary requirements to be provided home food if they wish, the government further said.
In order to ensure regular monitoring of the COVID-19 patients in home isolation, especially those above 40 years of age the CM asked the Health Department to put in place a system of ensuring their clinical progress to check sudden deterioration.
( With inputs from ANI )
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