Doctors and other medical personnel attending to Covid-19 patients in Calcutta will train their counterparts at different hospitals across Birbhum district through video conferencing from Monday.

The move by the health department is to ensure that medical professionals are not carriers of the novel coronavirus.

“If a doctor is found to be Covid-19 patient, it necessitates a bulk of medical staff to be sent into quarantine. It is a challenge for us. So, it is time to be more careful while handling patients at dedicated Covid hospitals,” said a senior health official.

Bengal has 61 designated Covid hospitals spread across its 23 districts.

Sources said doctors from Beliaghata I.D. hospital — the chief quarantine centre — and MR Bangur hospital in Tollygunge — the main Covid treatment centre — would conduct the training through video conference.

Himadri Ari, the chief medical officer of health in Birbhum, said medical personnel would receive training on how to treat patients from admission to diagnosis, and also proper procedures of sanitisation of wards and the use of personal protective equipment.

Abhijit Chowdhury, the convenor of the global advisory committee and a member of the expert committee on Covid-19 in Bengal, held a meeting with district administration, police and health officials at the Suri circuit house last week to discuss the training. The advisory committee is headed by Nobel laureate economist Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee.

Birbhum has two hospitals dedicated to Covid-19 treatment.

The sources said an official of the Bolpur Covid hospital, raised a question at the meeting regarding what would happen if health workers tested positive for Covid-19 and subsequently, other medical professionals had to be quarantined.

“The district has minimal resources in regard to doctors and medical staff. It would be tough to operate with smaller numbers than this,” said an official present at the meeting.