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A large number of community health officials posted in rural areas of Maharashtra assembled at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Wednesday for a one-day strike to press for their various demands including a permanent government job. Their other demands include reduction in workload, allotment of wages on time and insurance by the state government. Community health officers (CHOs) work in rural areas at primary health centres. They are currently working on a contract. Although their contracts get renewed, the CHOs have now demanded to make them permanent employees of the state government, sources said. The one-day strike will affect the basic check-up of patients for cold, cough, fever and routine maternal visits that are scheduled for Wednesday, claimed a government doctor from Latur, who has come to Mumbai to be a part of the strike. "The state government used to give a five per cent increase in monthly wages every year to CHOs, but it is not implemented since 2017. The government sho
Several doctors and nurses who served as frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced tremendous stress, other mental health problems and felt "burnt out", an expert has said while stressing on the need to address their health concerns. There were many incidents wherein doctors and nurses attempted or committed suicide in the world due to depression during the pandemic, Dr Vithyalakshmi Selvaraj, psychiatrist and chief medical officer of the Omaha Insomnia and Psychiatric Services, Nebraska, USA, told PTI. She gave a presentation on 'Long term consequences of COVID-19 infection' at the Indian Science Congress currently underway in Nagpur. Speaking on the sidelines of the presentation, Dr Selvaraj said depression, anxiety and sleeplessness magnified not just in India, but across the world, and there was need to "destigmatise" mental illness and increase awareness to prevent negative outcomes of such disorders. She said a study of 662 adults in India found that more tha
As many as 352 healthcare workers, including 157 doctors, of PGIMER here have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since during the past over a fortnight, the premier institute said in a statement on Friday. "A total of 352 Healthcare Workers (HCWs) have tested positive since 20th December, 2021 in Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh. Of these, 157 are doctors Junior Residents, Senior Residents & Faculty Members," the statement said. It further said that the increase in cases amongst HCWs is commensurate with increase in cases amongst the population at large. "More than 95 per cent of HCWs who tested positive had received both doses of COVID-19 vaccine. It is reassuring to note that almost all of these infections have been mild. HCWs who are staying in hostels on the institute campus and who do not have provision for home isolation, have been isolated in Nehru Hospital Extension Ward of the institute," it said. The statement further said ...
The Jharkhand government on Friday approved a number of proposals including one month's extra pay to Covid health workers and enhancement in honorarium for mid-day meal assistants. The decisions were taken at a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Sorent. The Jharkhand government last month announced Rs 103 crore incentive for frontline health workers. "The Cabinet has approved incentives for health department workers including doctors engaged in coronavirus related contact tracing, testing, supervision etc work in COVID hospitals and wards besides control rooms, which will be equivalent to their one month's salary," an official statement after the Cabinet meeting said. The incentive will be equivalent to the basic salary of April, 2020. Soren had earlier announced through social media one month's additional salary to doctors and medical workers employed to contain the pandemic. "In these troubled times, corona warriors are working day and night. Therefore, the state
Kerala logged 2,357 fresh COVID-19 cases, including nine health workers and 12 related deaths on Monday, taking the total caseload to 11.37 lakh and the toll to 4,680. As many as 1,866 people were cured of the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 11,04,225, a health department bulletin said. A total of 40,191 samples were examined on Monday, taking the overall number to 1,33,95,135. The test positivity rate stood at 5.86 per cent. Among the districts, Kozhikode reported the highest number of cases (360), followed by Ernakulam with 316 and Thiruvananthapuram with 249. "Among those found infected today, 104 reached the state from outside, while 2,061 contracted the disease through their contacts. The sources of infection of 183 are yet to be traced. Nine health workers are also among the infected,"it said. Currently, there are 28,372 people under treatment in the state. There are 1,46,346 people under observation, out of which 4,543 are in isolation ward