india

Updated: Apr 07, 2020 08:01 IST

For Sanjay Jaiswal, the day begins with a rushed breakfast and a quick round of exercise before he sets out for the hospital. This is where he receives calls from those seeking medical advice or examines patients. In between, the president of the BJP’s Bihar unit also fields calls from party workers and bosses in Delhi.

Jaiswal says it has helped that the government permitted doctors to advise patients on the phone.

“Earlier, there was no permission for doctors to conduct consultations through tele-medicine, but now conditions have been relaxed by the MCI and we can at least see our patients online or speak to them on the phone,” the Lok Sabha member from Bihar’s West Champaran constituency said.

Jaiswal said he volunteered to be deployed for coronavirus patients at his hospital that has set up a 140-bed isolation ward.

“We have requisitioned PPEs (personal protection equipment) and cardiac monitors; since there is a shortage all across,” he said.

Another doctor turned MP, Anil Jain, who is also the BJP general secretary has been monitoring the situation on the ground in Haryana and Chandigarh. A consultant surgeon with the Apollo Group, Jain has not been practising medicine after taking oath as an MP.

But in view of the pandemic, the Rajya Sabha MP said he does have people reaching out to him for advice.

“I hear their concerns and tell them what to watch out for and when to rush to the emergency,” said Jain, underscoring that he hadn’t restarted practising medicine.

Jain says he is focussed on logistics on the ground to ensure hospitals have supplies and patients are being looked after. “We are making sure that patients who need dialysis, for instance, are being looked after. While the pandemic has affected regular services, we are ensuring that treatment is not stalled,” Jain said.

Former minister and Gautam Buddh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma has also been focussing on the hospital chain that he runs near Delhi. An aide of the BJP said he was examining patients as well.

In Bhutan also, Prime Minister Lotay Tshering is known to practice medicine on weekends, In Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has re-registered as a medical practitioner and intends to work one shift a week to help out during the coronavirus crisis, his office said on Sunday.