BENGALURU: Many healthcare workers have been staying away from their families for months at a stretch, working tirelessly.However, now, with the expectation of immunisation against the disease, they are keenly awaiting the shots, although knowing that their time away from their families could be extended due to the vaccination programme and the preparations for it. For Sister Thrupthi MS, a nursing staffer at Aster CMI Hospital, it has been several months since she has visited her hometown in Chikkmagaluru. She now hopes she can visit her family once she gets vaccinated. “After witnessing the impact of the virus, I would never want my loved ones to be in such a situation. Therefore, I have been away from my family,” she said.
She said that the stress of unknowingly passing the infection to someone was much more than contracting it as it unintentionally puts someone’s life in jeopardy. “Many of us have been subconsciously anxious, but with the use of PPE suits, and other precautions, we have kept the infection at bay so far,” she added.
Dr Dayanand Sagar, president, Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors (KARD) said, “This has been the toughest part of our career. The idea of being infected is scary. Working with a PPE is tiresome, it blunts our senses, affects our mental health to a great extent, often tempting us to quit. But, somehow, we stay. I haven’t been infected, but many of my colleagues have. However, now, with a vaccine coming, it is a relief, but the government has not mentioned the exact brand of vaccine. A complete disclosure is needed.”
Dr Shafiq AM, co-founder and CEO, Specialist Hospital, said that Covid-19 has changed every person’s life, and being a doctor, the risk of infection has been immense. “Like me, many other doctors too have contracted the virus. We are worried that we may carry the virus to our families. The assurance that frontline workers will be given a shot of the vaccine first motivates us to serve the public with even more zeal.”
Dr Prakash Doraiswamy, senior consultant for anaesthesia and critical care, Aster CMI Hospital, recently got infected. Now, he said that he was excited with the vaccines coming. “I’m extremely excited as it will allow everyone to resume their lives normally. In a period of 3-4 months of community vaccination, we will be able to achieve normalcy. Ever since the pandemic started, the entire health care sector has been under tremendous stress. To help our staff cope, we play music in our ICU which actually acted as a stress buster for the staff.”