what can you say about the pandemic that we are facing today, The authorities dubbed us Covid fighters when the pandemic began in 2020 and the first cases of Covid-19 were discovered. They showered roses on healthcare personnel. I felt like a warrior at the time.
After two years, the epidemic is beginning to feel like a world war, a long experience that people are adjusting to. Nothing like this has ever happened to any of us before, and hopefully, it will never happen again.
The epidemic, on the other hand, drew us together. It’s demonstrated to me how communities can rise to the occasion and assist one another. It also taught me about how our healthcare facilities can be improved. The majority of the stories I tell here are from the second wave of the pandemic. We’re a government hospital, so we’re used to seeing a lot of people, but I’ve never seen as many people inside a hospital or waiting outside for admission as I saw during the second wave. I witnessed one of our resident doctors, whose parent had been brought to our hospital, caring for six other patients in the same ward. I witnessed patients assisting one another. I witnessed a son pleading with us to accept him as a suspected patient so that he could care for his sick mother. I observed a girl wearing a PPE kit who spent the entire day in a Covid ward with her grandmother. (During the first wave, the most family refused to enter Covid wards, and many did not return to see their loved ones.)
I witnessed towns banding together to plan for the delivery of oxygen and medicine. In their housing societies, they built isolation facilities. When patients were waiting outside the hospital gates, we had to make difficult decisions, such as closing admissions because we were at capacity. Some of them were so destitute that they couldn’t afford to leave. Despite the order to stop admitting people, I stepped out without my doctor’s coat on and let some of the sick individuals in. My family’s older members required admission, but I refused.
We could have handled the situation better if we had been more courteous of the patients and made them feel at ease. Before the epidemic, we did not have to consider the comfort of our patients. The majority of patients would have a relative stay with them and provide them with meals and medications regularly. We realized that delivering everything on the schedule was insufficient. The patients were terrified since they couldn’t communicate with their loved ones. During the second wave, we established a video-calling center to keep family members connected. We’ve also started admitting certain old and young patients’ relatives inside.
After the horrible time we shared, all I have to say to the people of my country is to continue doing these acts of compassion without bothering about being hailed as a hero. In a battle, there are few heroes, but the contributions of many nameless warriors are significant.