Irish PM Varadkar, who rejoined medical register, interned at Mumbai's KEM hospital

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s decision to rejoin the medical register to help health services during the coronavirus pandemic sent an inspirational message of leading from the front in a crisis situation. Varadkar decided to offer his services to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for one session a week in areas that are within his scope of practice.

However, it is lesser-known fact the Irish Prime Minister, whose roots are in village Varad of Maharashtra, studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin and did his internship at KEM hospital in Mumbai. Varadkar’s father Ashok, also a doctor, married an Irish nurse Miriam in 1971 in the UK and then settled in Dublin after moving to India for a brief period.

Currently, Varadkar is in a caretaker role until the new government is formed since no party got a majority in the recent general elections. Varadkar’s Fine Gael received a huge setback and lost 15 seats compared to 2016 elections. The loss in vote share, and eventually in the number of seats, was mainly due to the surge of Sinn Féin which increased its seats by 14. Varadkar had said that his party is willing to talk for a possible coalition with other parties if Fine Gael is needed for providing political stability.

Read: Irish PM Leo Varadkar To Work For Health Services Amid Coronavirus Crisis

Health crisis amid political uncertainty

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a major public health crisis around the world and health care workers at the frontline are bearing the brunt of resource crunch. Former health care professionals from around the world are returning to the profession to help out the sector which is facing huge challenges due to the pandemic.

Read: Varadkar Asks The Irish To Stay Away From Each Other

According to the latest report, over 1.6 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide with nearly 97,000 deaths, overwhelming the health care facilities across the globe. The United States, Italy, and Spain are the worst-hit countries due to the pandemic with over 50 per cent of death toll reported from these three countries alone.

Read: Irish PM Leo Varadkar Announces Shutdown To Fight Coronavirus

Read: Ireland PM Leo Varadkar Resigns, Retains Caretaker's Role Amid Political Standstill

(Image Credit: @LeoVaradkar/Twitter)