Front line warrior Shabir Ahmad recounts his duty as Lab Technician during the pandemic

Srinagar: A lab technician at Mini Maternity Centre (MMC), Hospital, Noorbagh Srinagar Shabir Ahmad has been conducting hundreds of Covid-19 tests since the beginning of the pandemic and it has become part and parcel of his duty during the past one year. “I live at Rainawari Srinagar and I have to travel around the city day in and day out to carry out covid tests,” he says.
He has witnessed the peak of first wave and now the second wave and has witnessed both the surge and fall of the covid positive cases. Today he is confident that Covid-19 cases are on decline in Kashmir. He says that administrative decisions taken at the right time particularly the lockdown imposed in the J&K has brought the rate of positive cases down to a comfortable level. Last month while testing, many people used to come as positive but now the trend is on decline which is a good sign. “Today itself his centre has conducted 80 tests so far and only two persons came as positive while others were negative”, he said with a sigh of relief. Ahmad further hoped that in coming days there will be more decline registered in the positive cases.
“Duty has been tough, my mother belongs to the vulnerable group and I prefer to stay alone when I go home after performing my duty of conducting the Covid-19 tests. At the same time I am thankful to the doctors at MMC who have supported and backed me in doing my job, he said”. “It is my job and will continue in doing so. We need to go out there and conduct testing as it is one of the ways to keep everyone safe. I will continue to perform my duties in future as well,” he said with a sense of commitment.