New Delhi: Amid rising cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday authorised key decisions to boost the availability of medical personnel to fight the deadly virus, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). "The Prime Minister reviewed the growing need of adequate human resources for responding to the Covid-19 pandemic in the country today," the statement read. With the aim to increase the number of doctors, nurses and allied professionals for better management during the ongoing second wave of the pandemic, a decision to allow deployment of medical interns in Covid Management duties under the supervision of their faculty was taken. This will be part of the internship rotation and final year MBBS students will be made a part of services like teleconsultation and monitoring of mild Covid cases. Additionally, B.Sc./GNM qualified nurses will be deployed in full-time Covid-19 nursing duties under the supervision of senior doctors and nurses. 

"This will reduce the workload on existing doctors engaged in Covid duty and provide a boost to efforts of triaging," the statement read. All the medical students, as well as professionals who will thus be engaged in Covid related work, will be vaccinated and covered under the insurance scheme of government for health workers. Moreover, professionals who sign up for a minimum of 100 days of Covid related duty will also be given the Prime Minister’s Distinguished Covid National Service Samman, the statement added. NEET-PG exam has also been decided to be postponed for at least 4 months and students will be given at least one month of time after the announcement of the exam before it is conducted. These decisions come as India reported as many as 368,147 new Covid-19 cases on Monday which pushed the country's total infection tally close to 19,925,604, according to the Union health ministry's dashboard at 8 am. 3,417 new coronavirus-related fatalities were also recorded in the same period which took the nationwide death toll to 218,959. The number of active cases in the country currently stands at 3,413,642 which comprises 17.13 per cent of the total confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country.