Aizawl,  In a generous gesture, over 400 unemployed doctors, nursing students, laboratory technicians and pharmacists in Mizoram have voluntarily agreed to assist the government in Covid management, health officials said on Wednesday.

A health official said that responding to the state government's appeal, 412 unemployed doctors, nursing students and laboratory technicians willingly engaged themselves in Covid-19 related works including sample collections, screening of patients, contact tracing, and providing care to the patients in Zoram Medical College (ZMC) and other Covid care centres.

"The state government has been facing huge shortages of skilled medical manpower. The voluntary engagement of 412 unemployed doctors, nursing students and laboratory technicians would be a great help for the authorities in dealing with Covid management," the official said.

Of the 412, 37 are doctors and 144 are nurses, while the rest are laboratory technicians and pharmacists.

According to the official, around 900 doctors, nursing and para-medical students had voluntarily helped the Mizoram Health Department last year to deal with the pandemic.

A total of 8,032 positive cases have detected in the mountainous border state and on Wednesday, the active cases stood at 1,889 with 23 people succumbing to the disease.