Politicians and celebrities all across Europe have returned to their prior medical careers to help fight the coronavirus.
By Tanzia Haq
All over Europe, people in the political and arts industries have returned to their former careers in public care and medicine to help the coronavirus efforts. 23-year old Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome said she would also be donating her earnings from her part-time care work to a local COVID-19 relief fund. Whittome says she’s pitching in because the “the care system is in serious danger of falling apart” in the wake of this pandemic.
Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadker, has also offered to work a day a week as a doctor in his home country as Ireland faces a surge in infection cases. Varadker was certified as a GP in 2010 before quitting to pursue a political career.
In France, filmmaker Thomas Lilti also began volunteering at the hospital where he had been filming when the outbreak struck. He gave up medicine for filmmaking in 2014. Aside from Lilti, basketball player Stéphanie dos Santos and ju-jitsu champion Julien Mathieu have taken up nursing roles in local hospitals, among others.
In Hungary, an MEP Katalin Cseh is going to start her volunteer role as a medic from today. Cseh would be working part-time while serving as an MEP in Hungary’s opposition Momentum party.
These individuals are joining a growing group of professionals from a variety of fields who are lending a hand to fight the coronavirus pandemic. As the cases across Europe increase and countries go into lockdown, more and more prominent individuals are pitching in to support medical workers.
If you would like to help out, contact local hospitals or relief funds in your area, or you can also donate to the WHO Coronavirus relief fund at: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/donate
