The Unspoken reality of being a doctor ( healthcare worker ) in Covid

 Posted on May 1, 2021 by Ruchi

Long lines of patients and their families outside the hospitals! There is a never-ending queue of patients for an appointment. You have already been consulting non-stop for the past few days, and you are mentally and physically exhausted. Patients are waiting for the PCR test and other blood tests. There is a shortage of medicines and ICU beds. People are dying on the streets. People are dying for lack of oxygen. As the scene unfolds before your eyes, sometimes you wish you were not a doctor or even a nurse or any way related to healthcare. Ignorance would have been bliss.

While others can feign ignorance, you being a doctor, know the ugly truth. You knew that a virus can not just disappear at the turn of the year. You knew that unless the chain of transmission would break, the virus would always find its way back. It hurts to know that a country of 1.4 billion is ruled by people who never invested in a sound healthcare system. The health ministry did not even do basic research that they were sitting on a time bomb. You know that the country badly needs a lockdown now, but the basic fact that you are ruled by people who do not understand medicine leaves you baffled and sick.

The folly of few has become death for so many..numbered and not numbered. Does India lack the resources to manage the current scenario? The answer is “No” India does have resources to manage the current devastation. What’s lacking is the vision and commitment! India has many of the best hospitals, and if all pool together their resources, they can quickly achieve to control the damage. There is strength in numbers, and with so many organisations and NGOs working on the ground..things can be skillfully managed.

However, the truth is that the administration has abandoned the masses, and right now, it’s just like a civil war. Paracetamol is a simple drug to treat fever and is currently priced at 10-20 times more than the usual price. Remedisvir, the drug reserved for severe covid, is being used left and right even for mild to moderate disease without supervision. The same is the case of steroids. CT scan is not required early during the illness. However, it is being ordered as early as day 2-3. Tests like IL6 are required in worsening patients to predict cytokine storm are being ordered even in mild cases. The only treatment in a mild case is an antipyretic and antihistaminic, symptomatic treatment and isolation, the last of which has been completely forgotten. It is not that doctors do not know this, but the problematic patients Indians have googled and whats app the treatment do not want to listen to the one who would advise them to monitor. Those who need oxygen are not getting and those who may not require it have hoarded them in their houses. An ambulance trip of 4 km may cost you a fortune these days.

The country is in chaos not just because of poor administrative decisions but because we collectively have lost humanity too. And in this scenario, I feel I have lost all the will to be a doctor too. We are worried about getting sick and making our families sick. We are tired and exhausted.

I am participating in #A2Z2021 hosted by Blogchatter. Blogchatter community binds all the Indian bloggers and has put blogging at a forefront. You can visit them at https://theblogchatter.com