Patna, April 21: Above 500 doctors and health workers of the two leading hospitals in Patna-AIIMS and Patna Medical College and Hospital- have been infected by the virus during ongoing second wave, sources in the two hospitals said on Wednesday.

Altogether 384 employees of AIIMS Patna, including doctors, nurses, safai karamchari and others have come under impact of the virus in course of the dangerous second wave so far, its Medical Superintendent C M Singh told PTI. Singh said he does not have the break up, but in total there are 384 infected AIIMS staff here.

PMCH Superintendent Dr Indu Sekhar Thakur said more than 125 of its staff have tested positive so far. He said the list includes 70 doctors and over 55 nurses and other health workers. Free COVID-19 Vaccination to All Aged Above 18, Says Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

AIIMS and PMCH along with another state-run Nalanda Medical College and Hospital are catering to large number of COVID patients in the state capital.

PMCH superintendent said they have arranged separate isolation space for its infected employees.

PMCH, the century-old premier hospital of Bihar, has facility of around 105 beds for the COVID patients barring its staff and all are occupied at present, Thakur said. AIIMS Patna has expanded its bed capacity to 250 seeing arrival of more and more coronavirus affected patients and all the beds are full.

The PMCH Superintendent said that due to infection of a large number of staff, they are facing manpower shortage. "But since leave of all the staff has been cancelled we are managing the functioning of the COVID wards," he told PTI. Meanwhile, the Bihar chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) has published a list of 40 doctors across the state with their phone numbers for assistance to the needy.

"Our doctors are providing treatment over phone to patients who are primarily in home isolation," its state president Dr Shahjanand Singh told PTI.

Singh, a surgeon, is himself in the list of doctors helping the needy in the present crisis. India Reports Highest-Ever Spike in COVID-19 Cases, Deaths in Past 24 Hours, Coronavirus Count Reaches 1,56,16,131.

The IMA Bihar chief said these doctors are available over phone from 10-12 am and 4-6 pm in the evening. Bihar is witnessing second surge of coronavirus like rest of the country.

As per the health bulletin issued Wednesday, a total of 12,222 more citizens tested positive, while 56 lost their lives due to the deadly disease. The state has total 3,54,281 COVID cases while the tally of fatalities is 1897 since the outbreak of the virus last year. Bihar has 63,745 active cases of coronavirus at present.

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