Starting vaccination with frontline warriors paid rich dividends: PM Narendra Modi

New Delhi: Asserting that the strategy of starting the vaccination programme with frontline warriors has paid rich dividends in the second wave of Covid-19, PM Narendra Modi said on Monday that the vaccines have ensured the safety of most of the doctors as 90 percent of health professionals have already taken its first dose. In an interaction with a group of doctors via video-conferencing, Modi said be it testing, supply of medicines or setting up new infrastructure in "record time", all these are being done at a fast pace, according to a statement.

His assertions came amid criticism from opposition parties of his government's vaccination programme and also alleged poor handling of the second wave of the pandemic. Noting that challenges of oxygen production and supply are being overcome, Modi said steps taken by the country to augment human resources, like including MBBS students in COVID treatment and ASHAs and Anganwadi workers in rural areas, provided extra support to the health system.

The prime minister also thanked the entire medical fraternity and paramedical staff for the "exemplary fight displayed by them against the extraordinary circumstances" of the second wave, adding that the entire country is indebted to them. He urged doctors to include oxygen audit in their daily efforts.

Noting that a large number of patients are undergoing treatment in home isolation, he asked the doctors to ensure that the home-based care of every patient is SOP driven. He said telemedicine has played a big role for patients in home isolation, adding that this service needs to be expanded in rural areas as well.

Praising doctors who formed teams and are providing telemedicine service in villages, Modi appealed to the fraternity across states to form similar teams, train final year MBBS students and MBBS interns, and work towards ensuring that all tehsils and districts of the country have this service.

Touching on the challenge of mucormycosis, he said doctors may need to put in extra effort towards taking active steps to deal with it and spread awareness about it.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday reviewed efforts of the armed forces, defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs) and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in India's fight against a severe second wave of the coronavirus pandemic that continues to spread in rural areas. The focus of Singh's review at a video conference was on setting up dedicated COVID hospitals in different states, the creation of additional beds in military hospitals, the establishment of oxygen plants and the augmentation of doctors and other health professionals to deal with the crisis, officials said. Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar said at the meeting that nearly 800 doctors have been mobilised through various measures to meet the shortage of health professionals, according to an official statement.

The defence ministry has initiated a number of steps to increase the availability of doctors, which included giving extension till December 31 to all short service commissioned doctors in the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) who were due for retirement. The ministry also roped in retired military doctors to provide online consultations to civilian patients through a tele-medicine platform.