An Eid spent in service of humanity

Dr Palwasha Ghafoor had the chance to come home for Eid. Instead, she chose not to abandon her patients in the UK

PESHAWAR: As Eidul Fitr rolls around each year, most relish a chance to spend quality time with their loved ones and take much needed respite from their daily routines.

The novel coronavirus pandemic, however, has meant this Eid came and went like no other before it.

Still, imagine being unable to even have that brief respite that many of us were still able to enjoy. And imagine being in that situation thousands of miles from your family.

Dr Palwasha Ghafoor, for one, doesn’t need to imagine. The 32-year-old who hails from a small village in FR Dera Ismail Khan and currently works for the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, Eid was dedicated to a higher calling – serving humanity.

“I have been living in the UK for three years now to complete my specialisation,” Dr Palwasha told The Express Tribune from Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital. “This year, I had planned on coming home for Eid. I wanted very much to spend time with my parents.”

“But even though my leave was approved during Ramazan, I just couldn’t bring myself to do so,” she said. “The patients I had been looking after in intensive care, the worsening Covid-19 situation in the UK. I just couldn’t abandon my duty at this time.”

As the rest of us observed Eid and celebrated in whatever way we could, Dr Palwasha remained in ICU tending to those on ventilators.

“The situation here has become extremely dire,” she said. “It is not unusual for us to spend as much as 13 hours a day in the ICU with our patients. Many doctors, including those of Pakistani descent, have already lost their lives trying to save people from Covid-19.”

“And then there is the emotional toll,” she added. “It is a tearful moment for all of us when we have to send patients to the ventilator. We ask them to speak to their loved ones because you don’t know if this would be their last chance.”

Even so, Dr Palwasha said the success stories keep them going. “Just sometime back, a 30-year-old patient recovered after five weeks in the ICU. That was really encouraging for all of us,” she said. “If even one person’s life is saved because of you, there is no greater success.”

Asked what inspired her to be courageous in such testing times, Dr Palwasha pointed to her father. “He is a child specialist. He heads the children’s ward in DI Khan District Headquarters Hospital and he made it his mission to save every child.”

“It was his example that taught me you have to serve humanity no matter what, regardless of race or religion. When the people of UK salute my country because of the work other Pakistani doctors are doing, it makes me really proud of who I am and where I come from,” she said.

Speaking about Pakistan, Dr Palwasha admitted it was encouraging that the death rate in the country is lower than in Europe. However, she cautioned people against the impression that the virus was harmless or that the pandemic was over.

“I urge people living in Pakistan to take the coronavirus seriously," she told The Express Tribune. “A little carelessness is all it takes to end up in the ICU with your loved ones. Wear a mask, wash your hands and change your clothes every time you come back home from the outside.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2020.