A woeful shortage of hospitals and health workers need not paralyze us into inactivity. In a country like India, there is no shortage of resources if one is willing to look for them. We are a country known for its jugaad, so why not live up to our reputation?

Let’s put our heads together and come up with some innovative ideas to solve this crisis. Here are a few that we can start with.

Use the services of retired doctors and medical students

Ask all retired doctors to come back to service and begin practice. Lift all restrictions that do not allow qualified doctors to practice in India. Since there are medical students who are on the verge of completing their studies, rope them in to assist the existing doctors and nurses. This will help them tremendously. You can give these medical students additional marks or certificates for helping out during this crisis.

All categories of doctors can help

Whether it is a vet, dermatologist, opthalmologist, cardiologist, gastroenterologist, or any kind of doctor, all of them should be asked to help out in this situation. Since they all have a medical background, they can at least assist the physicians who are fighting to save lives.

Reduce time taken to make vaccines

Laws need to change drastically during a crisis. For example, it will take more than 18 months to approve a vaccine because the FDA has an entire process to approve these vaccines. Now is the time to change these rules and come out with a vaccine pronto. Change the laws if possible, and waive procedures that are not needed. Lives are more important than rules right now.

Hire patients who have recovered

The number of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 is increasing daily. These patients who have recovered can be hired to help out at hospitals since they have higher immunity to the disease. The government can pay its salaries. This will not only ensure a higher employment rate at a time when people are losing their jobs but can also help fight the pandemic more efficiently.

COVID-19 survivors can donate their plasma

Those who have fought the disease and recovered will have valuable antibodies in their blood. These can be used to cure patients who are fighting the disease and whose bodies have still not begun making these antibodies.

This technique has been successfully used to fight viruses such as SARS, MERS, H1N1, and Ebola in the past. Ask all those who have recovered to come forward and become a hero voluntarily.