Bhubaneswar: With a heavy heart and staggering footsteps he made his way through the corridor full of grieving and anxious family members, into his cabin. It was his 5-min break after 12 hours. In those 12 hours he had seen enough, mourning, struggles and recoveries – enough to last a lifetime.
When he took off that mask and the PPE kit from it showed all over his mortal frame. In the form of dark circles, sweat marks, chapped skin under the rubber gloves, scarred face from the mask, chapped lips and bloodshot eyes – every inch of the body spoke up for what he has been going through. What every doctor is going through – trial by fire, one-after-another.
After almost 12 hours of continuous standing and working, he sat on his wooden chair & the eyelids had just begun to droop when one of the phones on the table started to ring.
Startled in his sleepy state he quickly answered the phone — “Yes, yes, I understand. Don’t worry I will be back soon.” He could not say bye. Today was Day-29th since he had last seen his family, his kids. However, the physical weakness got better of the emotions and the eyelids again began to droop but within 60 seconds the phone rang again & this time Duty Called.
A young boy aged 13 had been just brought in into the emergency section. Hearing this the doctor forgot about his problems and geared himself with the corona armour and rushed straight towards the emergency section. Back in his cabin sat a cup of tea and a half-eaten piece of biscuit.
Similar is the tale of every doctor, paramedic and frontline worker fighting the deadly Corona crisis from the front.
Ommcom News interviewed one such individual, who is performing a Yeoman’s job to save the lives of Covid patients in Odisha. Dr Harish Chaudhary, a senior Medical consultant at KIMS, Bhubaneswar has been on Covid duty for over one year now.
Packed in PPEs, the doctors battle this virus amid all possible life-threatening risks. “Our job begins at 6 am in the morning and we work as late as 2 am and beyond. At a stretch, we remain fitted in the PPE kits for over 6 to 8 hours, without water or restroom breaks,” said Dr Chaudhary.
Health care workers (HCWs) treating this potentially deadly airborne disease are at very high-risk. There have been a number of cases where reports of HCWs contracting the disease from their patients have happened and in several of these cases they even succumbed to it.
Last year (in 2020) when India was reeling under first wave of the pandemic, Dr Chaudhary and his colleague, a young doctor, had contracted coronavirus and were hospitalised. While Dr Chaudhary recovered within one week, his colleague developed complications and was put on a ventilator. He succumbed in a few days. “We have to accept the hard truth and move on, on the call of duty,” he said.
“We have seen many of our doctors and nurses fainting due to hypoxia as a result of staying for long in the PPEs. But this is not just a job, it is our duty and we have taken it up as a mission,” he added.
“We have a family, wife, children, and elderly parents at home. We have reasons to be worried about their health. But after putting on the PPE, as we enter the Covid ICU or ward, there is no looking back,” added Dr Chaudhary.
“Our roles and responsibilities have expanded exponentially. The anxiety and insecurity of Covid patients is tremendous. Not just physicians, we have to act as counsellors, to console and brace ourselves for the inevitable, every day.”
“I have three mobile numbers and not one of these remains free for more than five minutes. My phones buzz with messages and calls, from Covid positive patients in home isolations, the recovered ones, and relatives of those admitted in our hospital. While we are swamped with medical duty in the ICU, treating patients, we cannot disregard the calls and messages of the people in distress. The challenge is inconceivable,” he added.
Like hundreds of other doctors treating Covid patients, Dr Chaudhary and his team have received compassionate praises from the patients and their kin.
Bhubaneswar-based senior journalist Nabin Das said, “No matter how much you praise Dr Harish Chaudhary and team of KIMS, it will be less. They took best care of us.” Das and his wife Mamta had tested positive for Covid-19 following which they were hospitalised. The couple was fully cured a couple of days back.
Gratitude and acknowledgments pour in for doctors and nurses amid testing times, which Covid has offered to humanity. “When the patients recover, the expression of relief and gratitude on their faces mean the world to us. This is what we have dedicated ourselves for,” Dr Chaudhary said.