COVID-19: How the role of doctors is praiseworthy

Azhar Javaid Khanday
As you all know that Coronavirus, commonly known as COVID-19, is a disease which causes a viral infection of the lungs followed by dry cough, breathing difficulties, fatigue and fever. The disease has gripped the whole world severely and around 1.5 lac people have lost their lives till the date. The disease that originated in Wuhan area of China, in December 2019, has engulfed the whole world now and World Health Organisation (WHO) on February 11,2020code named the disease as COVID-19, which is a novel and is originally called as coronavirus. Unfortunately, neither a vaccine nor any kind of drug has been discovered by the health scientists yet, to control or end this pandemic and in nook & corner, only Doctors, Paramedics and many other frontline warriors are on toes to tackle the situations amid this disease. Similarly, medical, paramedical and other frontline workers in J&K have been working day and night to combat this pandemic despite lacking the well advanced medical technologies, as compared to the other states and countries. However, the manpower in the medical establishments is beyond need, not only in this pandemic but also in normal days, which is good news for all of us and must be endorsed. Doctors after the outbreak of this pandemic have been working 24×7 on frontline vivaciously, to contain the disease from spreading to no containment areas, without caring about the safety of their lives, which is highly appreciable and must be understood. The matter of grave concern here in India, is that the battle between doctors & paramedics is just one sided, as the doctors lack poor facility and don’t have even protective gears in the presence of a very poor health care infrastructure, but they fight the disease with full confidence and are hopeful to defeat this pandemic soon. Recently here in J&K, a doctor turned positive due to the lack of safety gears, some doctors were quarantined, while some skipped their meals due to the lack of protective gears. To save their lives, doctors here used bike helmets and raincoats just to fight the covid-19 which all exposes the fragile state of the health system that puts lives of thousands of doctors at risk. If the doctors are putting their life at risk why can’t we do a little help to them to overcome this pandemic by reducing a little burden over their shoulders. Firstly, we should neither visit hospitals unless there is pressing need for immediate treatment nor we must go out to join a gathering by taking prescription in our hands or claiming that prescription as a pass to wander anywhere. Secondly, one must not hide his/her travel history or symptoms in the early stage as it may prove harmful for them as well as for the society.
All should stay home, which will keep us safe from the COVID-19, and will let our frontline heroes defeat this disease soon
Therefore, we must come forward to reveal the travel history or the story being in contact with any traveler or the confirmed positive patients. In the present scenario, as authorities are declaring red zones one side, people use to destroy the roads other side by digging or blocking them using wood logs, which puts frontline warriors in trouble to handle with the pandemic swiftly, who already are lacking protective gears as well as health care facilities, hence we must desist from acts of sabotage. We know that the welfare of people in this pandemic fully depends on doctors and if the doctors themselves development ailments how can they be able to provide health care to general public, as hospitals in J&K have an acute shortage of doctors and paramedics. We can surely put defeat this pandemic by taking proper care of ourselves and by staying at home, so that the capacity of the healthcare system doesn’t become a cause for the spread of the disease. We shall break the chain and must maintain social distance and avoid mass gathering. These are only ways to save ourselves and many others. To conclude, I can say that we all should stay home, which will keep us safe from the COVID-19, and will let our frontline heroes defeat this disease soon.
(The author is freelancer. Views are his own, [email protected])