1,600 nurses posted in city, 3 nearby districts

Chennai

Addressing a press conference, Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar said the 2,000 nurses have already joined work. The nurses have been appointed on a contract basis for six months and would be paid Rs 14,000 per month, he said, adding that the government would take care of their food and accommodation.

“As the cases continue to spike in Chennai, we have recruited more medical personnel. The nurses are being appointed on a temporary basis for six months. We have appointed 400 nurses each at the healthcare centres in Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu. So there won’t be any shortage of healthcare staff in the State,” the Minister said, and added that the number of beds available in the hospital was also being increased.

To meet the requirement of additional healthcare personnel to treat COVID-19 patients, the numbers of whom are increasing every day, the government had recruited more than 9,000 medical personnel in phase one, including 530 doctors, 4,893 nurses, 1,508 lab technicians and 2,715 health inspectors.

In the second phase, more than 2,800 medical personals were appointed, which included 574 post graduate doctors (non-service post graduate), 665 doctors, 365 lab technicians, and 1,230 multipurpose health personnel.