About 130 students of VSMU are helping Vitebsk medics in the fight against COVID-19

Around 130 students of Vitebsk State Medical University, including those who started working in hospitals and clinics for the first time this year, have come to the aid of Vitebsk medical workers, said Karina Bartoshevich, secretary of the primary organization of the Belarusian Youth Union of the university.

Students who were involved as medical personnel during the first wave of COVID-19 continue to work in the same places. "For the first time, students were involved in working in the call centers of city hospitals and clinics. Now we are forming a reserve, which we will send to help Vitebsk medical workers at the first need," said Karina Bartoshevich. "We are recruiting only from the 5th and 6th years of the general medicine faculty. There are already over 250 people in the reserve. These are proactive students who approach the university's primary organization themselves and sign up as volunteers."

Vitebsk healthcare institutions are experiencing a shortage of call center workers due to the second wave of COVID-19 – specialists who handle citizen inquiries and provide information by phone. On November 6, 38 students of the general medicine faculty of VSMU took up their posts, working in shifts in clinics and hospitals.

Fifth-year student Daria Shevkun said that she works every day in the first or second shift at the polyclinic department of the 5th city polyclinic. Her duties include calling patients with confirmed COVID-19, first-level contacts, and compiling documentation for each of them. "During the first shift, I made a little over 30 calls," noted Daria Shevkun.

Fifth-year student Olga Terekhova wanted to support Vitebsk doctors along with other VSMU students during the first wave of coronavirus, but it didn't work out then. This time, she was hired to work in the call center of the 6th city polyclinic. "I call patients who are self-isolating, inquire about their well-being, ask if they need a consultation with their attending physician, and remind them when they need to take an express test for COVID-19," said the student. "If medical personnel are needed in hospitals in the future, I would like to do everything possible to ease the difficult work of medical professionals."

For students combining work and study, a flexible attendance schedule has been organized. As Daria Shevkun and Olga Terekhova noted, they dedicate every free moment to their studies. Working in call centers is not difficult for them, so they still have energy for studying textbooks.

BELTA.