How would you react if you were told that you don’t have to sit for your final year exam and that you’ll graduate immediately?
That’s what 10,000 medical students in Italy are facing.
Although I’ll bet they’re probably not really excited for it.
Because instead of a safe and (somewhat) stressed-free examination, they’ll be sent to the frontlines in the fight against Covid-19.
Sounds a lot like a plot from Star Trek (2009) when Starfleet cadets were sent to battle, but this is real life.
Italian Medical Graduates’ Final Exams Waived
Yesterday (17 Mar 2020), the Italian government announced that they will waive the final exams for 10,000 medical students who were supposed to graduate this year.
Instead, they’ll start work about eight to nine months earlier ahead of schedule.
These graduates will be deployed to general practitioners’ clinics and old peoples’ homes to take care of the patients there.
In this way, more experienced Italian doctors can be freed up from these places and deployed to hospitals that are filling up rapidly.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended that governments take even more aggressive measures against the Covid-19 pandemic.
A Lack Of Facilities
Other than doctors, Italy is also suffering from a lack of intensive care beds.
In Lombardy, 1,135 people needed intensive care beds. However, there were only 800 beds available.
Triage is all about seeing which patient is more likely to be saved, which might have resulted in a rumour that Italy is saving young people while leaving the elderly to their fate.
To know more about triage, you might want to watch this video we’ve done:
(Check out our YouTube channel for more entertaining and informative videos!)
Ramping Up Efforts Against Covid-19
Notable Italians have stepped up to the plate.
Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi announced that he would donate 10 million euros (~S$15.7 million) to equip a new centre.
The centre is a specially created facility in the Fiera Milano exhibition centre which Italian authorities have been working to set up hundreds of intensive care beds.
However, they’re still trying to get qualified staff and respirators to get it up and running.
The former prime minister is one of the many rich Italians offering funds to boost the healthcare sector.
In Rome, oil major ENI paid to convert a small, private Columbus hospital into a place to treat Covid-19 patients.
Meanwhile, the head of the northern Veneto region said he will increase the number of tests done daily to 11,300.
Currently, the number of tests done per day is 3,000.
When asked about the cost, he merely said that one more case detected means 10 more people safe.
Italy’s Worsening Covid-19 Situation
While Singapore has managed to handle the Covid-19 situation pretty well, Italy’s the opposite.
Join our telegram channel for more entertaining and informative articles at https://t.me/goodyfeedsg or download the Goody Feed app here: https://goodyfeed.com/app/
According to Aljazeera, Italy has suffered 345 new Covid-19 deaths over the past 24 hours. Their total death count is now at 2,503 and is the highest outside of China.
Advertisements
The total number of Covid-19 cases in Italy has also increased to 31,506.
China has sent help to Italy to combat the Covid-19 virus and the team at Goody Feed sincerely hope things will be better for Italy soon.
Because as Jack Ma said, the Covid-19 virus isn’t any country’s problem, it’s the entire world.
