Covid 19 coronavirus: Ministry of Health seeks army of helpers to manage virus

The Ministry of Health is seeking expressions of interest from healthcare professionals. Photo / AP

The Ministry of Health is seeking an army of helpers to combat the Covid-19 outbreak.

More than 2500 New Zealanders have signed up so far, including retired doctors and health professionals who have cancelled parental leave to rejoin the workforce.

In all, 606 nurses, 587 doctors, 58 midwives and 203 medical laboratory scientists have committed to helping out.

The ministry wants more, and is seeking expressions of interest from health and care professionals who are willing and able to work temporarily on a national programme to manage the coronavirus.

"We would also like to hear from health and care workers who may now be available as non-essential services are paused," the ministry said.

"We are seeking people to work in general and clinically specialised roles as we scale up the health and care workforce.

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"People will be matched to roles based on their competencies, and appropriate training and oversight will be provided where required to ensure safe practice."

A system had been created to match supply and demand around the country.

"This means understanding who is available to work, and matching them to roles that need to be filled in the sector.

"Some of these will be patient contact roles, and others will be supporting services such as Healthline and contact tracing, which can be done remotely."

Accent Health has partnered with the ministry for the recruitment drive, and was helping health professionals with tasks such as getting re-registered and getting them back into work quickly.

There are now 368 confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand. Eight are in hospital, one is in intensive care and 37 patients have recovered.

• People who are interested in signing up can go to the Ministry of Health website.

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• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website