COVID: Pune authorities appeal to Kerala nurses not to leave

Battling shortage of healthcare workers, authorities in Maharashtra's Pune district, which falls in red zone, are now trying to rope in nurses from Kerala who recently returned from Gulf countries.

Authorities have been holding meetings with Malyali organisations to reach out to the nurses from the southern state.

In view of the spike in coronavirus cases, many nurses from Kerala employed in Pune have returned to their home state.

Pune Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said he held a meeting with a couple of Malayali community organisations and discussed the issue of the nurses leaving for Kerala and appointing trained nurses who have returned to the southern state from the Gulf.

"We appealed the proactive and prominent community members to make an appeal to the nurses from the Kerala not to leave. Our efforts will be to discourage them from going back as we will give them all the personal safety in terms of providing PPEs and other protective gears. We are planning to provide them better work options here," said Mhaisekar. 

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