Amid the surge in COVID-19 positive cases in villages, action has been initiated for appointing health consultants and health assistants in Rajasthan’s rural areas following a recommendation by medical bodies and research institutions. As many as 1,000 consultants will be hired in the State by July 31 this year.
Both consultants and assistants will be selected by the Civil Defence Department on the lines of volunteers hired for disaster relief work, Medical and Health Minister Raghu Sharma said here on Friday. The new healthcare workforce will help in the household surveys to identify and treat the patients.
COVID-19 health consultants will be medical graduates willing to work as public health professionals, while health assistants will be qualified as nurses, having completed a general nursing and midwifery course. The latter will be sent to primary and community health centres as well as district hospitals’ COVID-19 care centres.
Jaipur-based Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR), which runs a Master of Public Health course, has highlighted the burden on frontline health workers because of the shortage of public health professionals during the pandemic. The institution has called for investment in human resources for strengthening healthcare infrastructure.
IIHMR chairperson S.D. Gupta said preventive care for COVID-19 could only be provided by public healthcare, whose workforce could break the chain of infection. “The density of the health workforce in India is not even half of the 44.5 health workers per 10,000 persons recommended by the World Health Organization,” he said.
Dr. Gupta said public health interventions could be implemented by trained professionals, who could deal with the prevalence of communicable diseases. The health consultants, to be hired through district-level committees, will undergo orientation for COVID-19 treatment as well as an awareness drive for protecting villagers against infections.
The highest number of 95 health consultants will be appointed in Jaipur district, where active cases have crossed 28,600. This is followed by 55 each in Jodhpur and Alwar, and 45 each in Nagaur and Udaipur districts.
