The Centre has also decided to allow deployment of medical interns in Covid management duties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday authorised key decisions to boost availability of medical personnel to fight COVID-19 wherein it was decided that medical personnel completing 100 days of Covid-19 duties will be given priority in forthcoming regular government recruitments.

The individuals providing services in Covid management will be given priority in forthcoming regular government recruitments after they complete a minimum of 100 days of Covid duty, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.

It was also decided that medical students or professionals sought to be engaged in Covid related work will be suitably vaccinated. "All health professionals thus engaged will be covered under the Insurance Scheme of Government for health workers engaged in fighting Covid 19," the PMO said in a press release.

All such professionals who sign up for minimum 100 days of Covid duty and complete it successfully will also be given the Prime Minister’s Distinguished Covid National Service Samman from Government of India, it added.

The Central Government had issued guidelines on June 16, 2020 to facilitate engagement of Doctors/Nurses for Covid duties. A special Rs. 15,000 crore Public Health Emergency Support was provided by the government to ramp up facilities and human resources for Covid-19 management.

Engaging personnel through the National Health Mission, an additional 2206 specialists, 4685 medical officers and 25,593 staff nurses were recruited through this process.

Separately, the Centre has also decided to allow deployment of Medical Interns in Covid Management duties under the supervision of their faculty, as part of the Internship rotation.

The services of Final Year MBBS students can be utilized for providing services like tele-consultation and monitoring of mild Covid cases after due orientation by and under supervision of Faculty. This will reduce the workload on existing doctors engaged in Covid duty and provide a boost to efforts of triaging, the release said.