Coronavirus

500,000 health workers ready to join Covid-19 effort

health workers
Photo: Health Ministry

According to Brazil’s Health Ministry, around 500,000 healthcare professionals have put their names forward to work in the Covid-19 effort. The total includes 103,000 students majoring in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and physical therapy.

The first batch of selected professionals will work in Manaus, the capital city of the northern state of Amazonas, where the healthcare system has already collapsed. In the city’s hospitals, ambulances are left queuing outside to wait for severe patients to die in order to free up space for new admittances. Another three Amazonas municipalities will also receive extra professionals: Itacoatiara, Tabatinga, and Manacapuru.