Centre reserves 5 MBBS seats for children of COVID-19 warriors

The central government has decided to allot five MBBS seats under the central pool to children of COVID-19 warriors for the academic year 2020-2021, reported PTI.

The decision was taken to dignify and honour the noble contribution made by COVID-19 warriors, who have lost their lives due to the infection or died accidently on account of COVID-19-related duty, said health minister Harsh Vardhan Singh.

A new category, ‘Wards of COVID Warriors’, has been introduced in the guidelines for selection and nomination of candidates against central pool MBBS seats. The selection will be done by the Medical Council Committee (MCC) through online application on the basis of rank obtained in the NEET-2020.

The Centre has laid down the definition of “COVID warrior” while announcing the insurance package of Rs 50 lakh for them, the minister said.

“COVID Warriors are all public healthcare providers including community health workers, who may have to be in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients and who may be at risk of being impacted by this.” “Private hospital staff and retired/volunteer/ local urban bodies/ contracted/ daily wage/ ad-hoc/ outsourced staff requisitioned by states/central hospitals/ autonomous hospitals of central/ states/UTs, AIIMS and Institutes of National Importance (INIs)/ hospitals of central ministries drafted for COVID-19-related responsibilities are all included,” he added.

The state and union territory (UT) government will certify the eligibility for this category.