Much like everyone else, medical professionals are also learning from and adapting to the pandemic

In the early days of the pandemic, a 15-year-old girl from Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh (UP), was having fever, a low blood count and was suspected to be a blood cancer patient. The unusual part was her distressing cough and oxygen saturation of 85 per cent. Then her COVID-19 test came positive. More exasperating than treating a new infection was managing the terror surrounding it. Soon the nurses, junior doctors and other patients’ relatives were asking us what to do. All we had was a faith in what we knew and a belief that the infection would run its course. Since then, it has been a journey full of fear, panic and despair. COVID-19 came to us at a time when Google has started replacing doctors in our country. When every decision is looked at with suspicion and social media is deepening the divide between the caregiver and the patient. Today, the same space is drowned with requests for oxygen, beds, medicines and for a second opinion. We lose someone we know, almost daily these days and when it happens, we blame the “system.” Surely someone is culpable.

Now, it has been more than 12 months since we saw the Kasganj girl. We started with no knowledge of how to plan for a pandemic. It was the time when all and any planning seemed alarmist. We were used to diagnosing and treating infections like tuberculosis, malaria, dengue and HIV. With COVID-19 the system responded, even before we realised it. The system started to train healthcare workers and doctors, nurses, attendants, housekeeping, security and administrative staff in hospitals were trained. They were told how to don the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), how to wash hands and wear masks, how to deliver oxygen and other things. The disease forced us to be fastidious about everything. Those who learnt became trainers for their underlings. However, we needed to track patients to contain the infection for which testing numbers were scaled up. Further, testing labs were established, PCR machines were ordered and microbiologists were empowered. It became a battlefield. Samples had to be collected properly, transported and reported without pendency. Multiple departments and Governments worked to take the pandemic head-on.

 The battle continued. There was fatigue from extreme heat. Many stopped eating and peeing during duty hours for fear of removing PPE. Medicine felt more like a punishment than a profession at times. Many fell ill and tested positive. Many cried. In between all this, there was resilience. Some learnt to say “yes” and move ahead. There was a relief when each patient got discharged. By now, the battle has become a war. The system continues with relentless efforts even when soldiers are falling. Beds need to be arranged, oxygen cylinders are required to be filled and medicines should be allotted to hospitals. And caught between the devil and the deep sea are non-COVID patients like the Kasganj girl, facing the collateral damage. Fighting one disease is a formidable challenge in itself and Coronavirus compounds the situation for such patients. The UP task force has reported over 12 lakh Coronavirus cases in the State so far with a case fatality of a little over one per cent. Data on bed occupancy, availability of medicines, oxygen and consumables are monitored twice daily by both health services and the medical education department. Deaths are to be reported within six hours of occurrence. The task force links all State and Central institutes, Government and private medical colleges in effort to diagnose, treat COVID-19 and  prevent it. Medical professionals are wiser today even as the war is far from over. And much like everyone else we are also learning and adapting to this crisis. After all, this is a first pandemic for all of us.

(Prajapati is Additional Director, UPDGME. Radhakrishnan heads the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Department, Child PGI, Noida. They are part of the UP COVID task force. The views expressed are personal.)