Italy waived final exams for 10,000 student doctors in order to rush them into service as the country struggles to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
The news came as the country reported 345 fatalities in 24 hours, raising the death toll to 2,504.
Italy’s University and Research Minister Gaetano Manfredi said the government would have medicine graduates this year to work eight or nine months earlier and set aside their final exams.
“This means immediately releasing into the National Health System the energy of about 10,000 doctors, which is fundamental to dealing with the shortage that our country is suffering,” he said.
Hospitals had been pushed to a breaking point in the northern Italy while medical facilities in the rest of the country are struggling as the number of confirmed cases continues to pile up.
The country’s Civil Protection Agency recorded 31,506 cases, the largest number outside China, Reuters reported.
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