Covid-19: life of a doctor during a pandemic

An air of despair surrounds the world as the Covid-19 death toll continues to rise. Before the virus reached Pakistan, our healthcare system was already under a chronic spell of lack of manpower and resources when a war against an invisible enemy was thrown at us. Almost eight months into this pandemic and we find ourselves in a deeper pit: the limited pre-pandemic manpower has further reduced as doctors went into isolation after being infected with the virus.

The department where I work has around 40 doctors, almost a quarter of which — mostly junior doctors — have been isolated as their PCR tested positive for Covid. More than 3% of Covid-19 patients in Pakistan are healthcare professionals.

We have come to a fearful realisation that we can also protract the virus like our fallen colleagues. While most doctors selflessly fought the virus on the frontline, many could not make peace with risking their lives and those of their families and chose not to work.

The shockwaves extend far beyond. Some months back when the pandemic was at its peak, a meeting was held in our ward to discuss our future course of action. A young doctor’s genuine fear of working without being provided safety kits met mockery as a senior doctor replied, “Do not worry, if you die we will name the ward after you.”

On the surgical floor of the emergency department, patients require emergency surgeries. Months have gone without protocols to treat a patient with Covid-19 who also requires urgent surgery. Such patients are either operated by sacrificial junior doctors or if it requires a senior hand then that doctor makes sure the patient is shifted to the corona ward without him having to operate on the patient.

Yesterday, I met a patient’s attendant in the ER and the conversation started with, “Do you think this mask will protect you from the virus?” Taken aback, I replied, “Of course.” Amused, he went on, “Do you really think washing hands with soap will kill the virus?” I tried explaining how the virus has a lipid membrane and soap molecules have an affinity for it, thus prying the membrane apart and rendering the virus useless. He laughed it off by saying, “There is no coronavirus, it’s an attempt to get foreign aid.”

While for many in Pakistan the Covid saga is a stunt to get foreign aid, many also think doctors deliberately inject patients with poison, declare Covid the cause of death and sell the bodies to other countries for money. It is not hard to imagine how it must be for doctors to fight a pandemic when the population considers it fake.

The world has closed its OPDs in response to the pandemic. Our government has given a new meaning to self-destruction by not doing so. There are many instances where patients walking into the OPD are told by doctors to wear a mask and the attendants casually take their mask off to give to the patients.

A threat bigger than Covid is our media which has fed the public negativity towards the medical community. From labelling doctors as butchers to fortifying the false belief that doctors are selling bodies of Covid patients, sections of the media have weakened our efforts. Not forgetting, out of the 2,596 Covid deaths in Pakistan till June 14, we had lost over 40 doctors.

This false media perception has led to patients physically attacking doctors and destroying hospital property and caused problems for patients. Last month, a colleague and I were discussing a patient who needed life-saving surgery in the ER. His chest x-ray showed suspicion of Covid. When the attendant heard us, he immediately took the patient home.

Junior doctors work around the clock and keep hospitals functional. They have lost the little faith they had in the system after receiving years of hostility from the public, media, health officials and senior doctors during this pandemic. Policies and priorities need to be revisited or Covid-19 might be the last blow for our health sector.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2020.

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