With the number of confirmed cases of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) continuing to surge in the nation, it is expected that the Government would rope in medical and nursing students from final-year of MBBS and post graduation to join the efforts to contain the pandemic, reports Hindustan Times.

The move is likely to strengthen the healthcare workforce and provide protective cover to the aged doctors who are themselves at a high risk of contracting the dangerous virus.

The Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare led by Dr Harsh Vardhan had also recently said in a guideline that dentists could also be roped in for adding muscle to the fight against the pandemic.

It should be noted that each year as many as 38,000 and 70,000 post graduation and MBBS students pass out in India. Meanwhile, on the national basis, as of 2017 there were only about a million doctors registered with the state medical councils, which translates to roughly 1 doctor per 1500 people. The World Health Organization (WHO) norms suggest that there must be one doctor for every 1,000 persons.

Member of the national task force on COVID-19, Dr Srinath Reddy said, "Those MBBS students who are doing their final internship might be allowed to take care of less critical patients. The option of allowing foreign medical graduates awaiting certification can be explored."