The Coronavirus pandemic after rattling the common people belonging to different walks of life now looks like threatening the very lives of the life-giving and rescuing doctors and health workers at large following many casualties in the health sector across the country and elsewhere on the globe.
According to the Indian Medical Association(IMA), the parental body of the medical fraternity 93 doctors on COVID duty have died so far. Dr Ranjan Sharma, head of IMA has disclosed: 1,279 doctors have been tested positive so far. Among them, 771 doctors are less than 35 years of age, 247 doctors above the age of 35 years and 261 above the age of 50 years.
Interestingly these numbers do not include the health workers like Nurses, Para-Medical staff and related workers. However, the IMA is working on a research paper to find out the causes leading to the deaths. Probably these findings may throw further light on the exact reasons for the fatalities and infections becoming positive among the medical professionals.
If deaths are an irksome factor in the given circumstances, the facilities at some, both government and private hospitals are said to be a horrible state of affairs as far as well being of the doctors, Nurses, Paramedical staff and related workers are concerned.
In the Prime Minister's home state of Gujarat, practising doctors, Interns and health workers underwent challenges risking their own lives at a private hospital near Vadodara and owned by a Congressman now in jail to get Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) while on 24x7 duty for a fortnight.
The plight of those on COVID duties had literally gone pathetic and the requests for proper hygiene, sanitizers and precautionary safety equipment had gone on the deaf ears. As their repeated pleas to the hospital Management went unnoticed, they were compelled to send SOS messages and emails to the state Health Secretary, Minister, Chief Minister and even the PMO as well.
Whether such panic calls made any positive impact or not, no one knows. But thanks to the humanitarian gesture of the Rotary Club, the PPE equipment was made available for free, thus, at last, they heaved a sigh of relief!
This is just one stray case to quote, but there is any number of similar instances throughout the country out of which only a negligible of them are seeing the light of the day and whether all their woes are being attended and addressed may only pave for another detailed write-up?
Dr Goutham Kulamarwa, a leading ENT Surgeon based out of Kasargod in Kerala opines: It is important we have a plan for our own self and near and dear ones. Mangaluru is showing us the example of not having one. A Doctor working in a Medical college couldn’t get admission in his own hospital sighting some frivolous reasons. Wenlock(Government hospital, Mangaluru) is not accepting patients. If any of us need a bed, it won’t be easy. Doctors in Wenlock and in the Task Force are facing exhaustion (personal communication). If and when the disease spreads in Kasaragod (hope and pray it doesn’t) we won’t have time to organise ourselves as everyone will be too busy managing the COVID patient load. Therefore, it is better we have some concrete plan to look after ourselves.
At the same time, he also expresses concern at the turn around of things for the worst and laments: We have some examples from Bellary and Mandya. I feel we need to ensure the following:
1. Hospital bed to be looked after
2. Availability of crucial Medicines
3. Availability of ICU beds and ventilators
4. Protocol or qualifying patient pool (who all should be included in this closed patient pool because there will be relatives and friends influencing when resources are scarce - we should know beforehand who all will be catered to).
5. Management protocol as per the best evidence available (even when it is not included in ICMR guidelines)
6. Human Resource to manage these beds
7. Funding and the modes of doing it. ( there is COVID insurance available for a small premium of 400/- for 3 months for Karnataka Bank account holders, provided by universal sompo- V can negotiate something similar with them for say 6 months or so)
I feel it is time we seriously discuss this matter.
Dr SR Narahari, Director and Chief Dermatologist on Filariasis and Integrated Treatment at the Institute of Applied Dermatology(IAD), Kasargod in Kerala endorses his co doctors views: I agree with the opinions of Dr Goutham and all the 7 points he mentioned are good suggestions...
...Corona is at our doorsteps, on the verge of community spread and can catch any one of us because of doctors and health workers and the most susceptible group. We should urgently chalk out some plans for the treatment facilities for our selves and our family. We should create a task force for this at the earliest. More discussions and suggestions with regards to this matter and a positive outcome are needed at the earliest, he concludes.
Dr KS Prasanna, Dermatologist at the Institute of Applied Dermatology, Kasargod in Kerala recalls an incident to have her take on the subject: One Friday in December 1998, Dr SR Narahari, a dermatologist was in the process of inviting the people in and around Kasaragod for our house warming. That day, he went to one of our neighbour’s house. As he was speaking with them, the grandmother of a newborn girl rushed out, completely distressed. She was holding the baby in her arms. The newborn was blind. Both the mother and grandmother wept, requesting the doctor to render any aid to the completely blind infant.
Dr SR Narahari was distraught to see the blind baby. The image of the baby, born into the world without its light, haunted him, and he slaved for a solution. He learnt extensively about corneal transplantation. The parents of the child are daily wage workers, and so financing the transplant would be a huge issue.
The process of transplantation was arduous. The doctors would transplant only one eye. They had to go to LV Prasad Eye Hospital in Hyderabad, get examined by the experts, and get the transplant within 24 hours of finding the cornea of a year old baby. This tedious process demanded them to stay in an expensive city.
Dr SR Narahari did much homework and finally succeeded in getting a flat of his friend’s, which was close to L V PRASAD Eye hospital, Hyderabad. The parents would go to the hospital, wait there for the cornea of a one-year-old child and return.
This process went on every day, staying in the same flat without rent. A few of Dr SR Narahari's friends took care of the other expenses in Hyderabad, which indeed boosted the family’s morale. Three months later, the transplant was scheduled, and the cornea came from an infant who died in an accident.
This was in the year 1999 when corneal transplantation was unheard of in most of the places of India. The blind child underwent the transplant. After the surgery, they had visited the experts regularly for the next two months, staying in the same flat. Slowly, the baby started to see through the right eye. They came back home, and all further corrections and minor surgeries were performed locally. By the time she played liked any other children, she has grown up.
Last week on 9th of July, 2020 the girl came along with her mother, announcing that she was going to get engaged, and asked for Dr Narahari's blessings “You helped me in my childhood that improved my life. I am what I am because of you, and I don`t forget this in my entire life. We find God in you, bless me”.She is a mature girl, and she knows what she speaks. These words came from her heart.
Dr SR Narahari did his best to help the blind girl, and when God willed it so, worked through him. Will od let this doctor down during this Corona pandemic, by pushing him to the corner forcing him to close IAD, his dream child? He built that organization 20 years ago alone, overcoming all obstacles in his path. He helped thousands of Lymphedema patients without any remuneration. Criticism, comments, threat, allegations, ill health, money, family issues and failures never stopped him doing this God’s work. The above story of a blind child is an example of it. Helping a person in need is our duty. Whatever happens, is because it has to happen, she signs off.
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| image: economic times |
According to the Indian Medical Association(IMA), the parental body of the medical fraternity 93 doctors on COVID duty have died so far. Dr Ranjan Sharma, head of IMA has disclosed: 1,279 doctors have been tested positive so far. Among them, 771 doctors are less than 35 years of age, 247 doctors above the age of 35 years and 261 above the age of 50 years.
Interestingly these numbers do not include the health workers like Nurses, Para-Medical staff and related workers. However, the IMA is working on a research paper to find out the causes leading to the deaths. Probably these findings may throw further light on the exact reasons for the fatalities and infections becoming positive among the medical professionals.
If deaths are an irksome factor in the given circumstances, the facilities at some, both government and private hospitals are said to be a horrible state of affairs as far as well being of the doctors, Nurses, Paramedical staff and related workers are concerned.
In the Prime Minister's home state of Gujarat, practising doctors, Interns and health workers underwent challenges risking their own lives at a private hospital near Vadodara and owned by a Congressman now in jail to get Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) while on 24x7 duty for a fortnight.
The plight of those on COVID duties had literally gone pathetic and the requests for proper hygiene, sanitizers and precautionary safety equipment had gone on the deaf ears. As their repeated pleas to the hospital Management went unnoticed, they were compelled to send SOS messages and emails to the state Health Secretary, Minister, Chief Minister and even the PMO as well.
Whether such panic calls made any positive impact or not, no one knows. But thanks to the humanitarian gesture of the Rotary Club, the PPE equipment was made available for free, thus, at last, they heaved a sigh of relief!
This is just one stray case to quote, but there is any number of similar instances throughout the country out of which only a negligible of them are seeing the light of the day and whether all their woes are being attended and addressed may only pave for another detailed write-up?
Dr Goutham Kulamarwa, a leading ENT Surgeon based out of Kasargod in Kerala opines: It is important we have a plan for our own self and near and dear ones. Mangaluru is showing us the example of not having one. A Doctor working in a Medical college couldn’t get admission in his own hospital sighting some frivolous reasons. Wenlock(Government hospital, Mangaluru) is not accepting patients. If any of us need a bed, it won’t be easy. Doctors in Wenlock and in the Task Force are facing exhaustion (personal communication). If and when the disease spreads in Kasaragod (hope and pray it doesn’t) we won’t have time to organise ourselves as everyone will be too busy managing the COVID patient load. Therefore, it is better we have some concrete plan to look after ourselves.
At the same time, he also expresses concern at the turn around of things for the worst and laments: We have some examples from Bellary and Mandya. I feel we need to ensure the following:
1. Hospital bed to be looked after
2. Availability of crucial Medicines
3. Availability of ICU beds and ventilators
4. Protocol or qualifying patient pool (who all should be included in this closed patient pool because there will be relatives and friends influencing when resources are scarce - we should know beforehand who all will be catered to).
5. Management protocol as per the best evidence available (even when it is not included in ICMR guidelines)
6. Human Resource to manage these beds
7. Funding and the modes of doing it. ( there is COVID insurance available for a small premium of 400/- for 3 months for Karnataka Bank account holders, provided by universal sompo- V can negotiate something similar with them for say 6 months or so)
I feel it is time we seriously discuss this matter.
Dr SR Narahari, Director and Chief Dermatologist on Filariasis and Integrated Treatment at the Institute of Applied Dermatology(IAD), Kasargod in Kerala endorses his co doctors views: I agree with the opinions of Dr Goutham and all the 7 points he mentioned are good suggestions...
...Corona is at our doorsteps, on the verge of community spread and can catch any one of us because of doctors and health workers and the most susceptible group. We should urgently chalk out some plans for the treatment facilities for our selves and our family. We should create a task force for this at the earliest. More discussions and suggestions with regards to this matter and a positive outcome are needed at the earliest, he concludes.
Dr KS Prasanna, Dermatologist at the Institute of Applied Dermatology, Kasargod in Kerala recalls an incident to have her take on the subject: One Friday in December 1998, Dr SR Narahari, a dermatologist was in the process of inviting the people in and around Kasaragod for our house warming. That day, he went to one of our neighbour’s house. As he was speaking with them, the grandmother of a newborn girl rushed out, completely distressed. She was holding the baby in her arms. The newborn was blind. Both the mother and grandmother wept, requesting the doctor to render any aid to the completely blind infant.
Dr SR Narahari was distraught to see the blind baby. The image of the baby, born into the world without its light, haunted him, and he slaved for a solution. He learnt extensively about corneal transplantation. The parents of the child are daily wage workers, and so financing the transplant would be a huge issue.
The process of transplantation was arduous. The doctors would transplant only one eye. They had to go to LV Prasad Eye Hospital in Hyderabad, get examined by the experts, and get the transplant within 24 hours of finding the cornea of a year old baby. This tedious process demanded them to stay in an expensive city.
Dr SR Narahari did much homework and finally succeeded in getting a flat of his friend’s, which was close to L V PRASAD Eye hospital, Hyderabad. The parents would go to the hospital, wait there for the cornea of a one-year-old child and return.
This process went on every day, staying in the same flat without rent. A few of Dr SR Narahari's friends took care of the other expenses in Hyderabad, which indeed boosted the family’s morale. Three months later, the transplant was scheduled, and the cornea came from an infant who died in an accident.
This was in the year 1999 when corneal transplantation was unheard of in most of the places of India. The blind child underwent the transplant. After the surgery, they had visited the experts regularly for the next two months, staying in the same flat. Slowly, the baby started to see through the right eye. They came back home, and all further corrections and minor surgeries were performed locally. By the time she played liked any other children, she has grown up.
Last week on 9th of July, 2020 the girl came along with her mother, announcing that she was going to get engaged, and asked for Dr Narahari's blessings “You helped me in my childhood that improved my life. I am what I am because of you, and I don`t forget this in my entire life. We find God in you, bless me”.She is a mature girl, and she knows what she speaks. These words came from her heart.
Dr SR Narahari did his best to help the blind girl, and when God willed it so, worked through him. Will od let this doctor down during this Corona pandemic, by pushing him to the corner forcing him to close IAD, his dream child? He built that organization 20 years ago alone, overcoming all obstacles in his path. He helped thousands of Lymphedema patients without any remuneration. Criticism, comments, threat, allegations, ill health, money, family issues and failures never stopped him doing this God’s work. The above story of a blind child is an example of it. Helping a person in need is our duty. Whatever happens, is because it has to happen, she signs off.
-Manohar Yadavatti
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