Pandemic is equal to chaos. Everywhere I looked people were in a frenzy, like from home, hospital, state, nation, international etc. There was a lot of fear in the minds of each and every person including me.
Corona or COVID 19 the word itself has become so common that it is in the tongue tips of everybody on every topic. Recently, when I told my niece that I attended a meeting in the hospital the first thing which came to her mind was COVID. So from that, I can understand that lot of awareness (information but do not know whether it’s correct or not) has been created on this pandemic, but the awareness is limited only up to the disease spread and not how to deal with it.
The dilemma in-home and hospital
So, If in case a person becomes COVID positive in an area then a whole lot of things are seen. Some reasonable and some not. Adding to this, worldwide people don’t know the proper protocol to keep everything sanitized. They do not know how to procure things home, and if at all online things are ordered, sanitizing it, is a big issue. Some say put all your vegetables and fruits in salt and turmeric water, and others say the complete opposite of it. What to practice and what not to is a big question mark with no answers in particular. Some even face panic attacks due to the chaos and fear that it has been spread.
The situation in hospitals are worse. Wards are being converted to treat COVID patients, without any basic preparations prior to it. With the nationwide lockdown being declared, it became more difficult to get hospital supplies and there was no hope for any emergency supply system being created either. It is indeed a stressful situation for everybody in the medical field but instead of helping each other and co-working, most of the work as far as I have seen is been pushed onto the nursing superiors. They struggle to get proper supplies but somehow do manage within the framework of their organizations. For how many days do you feel that they will be able to manage without any help? Nurses and doctors everywhere are appreciated for their work in many ways some clapping, some with vessels others showering with flowers. All of it is needed, but speaking in terms of practicality does anybody even care to see whether these health professionals who are working putting their life on stake for others are receiving proper amenities themselves with safety precautions or whether their families are kept safe? Nothing. As the famous thought by Abraham Lincoln goes “ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS”. It’s high time that something is been done so as to reduce the pressure being put on the doctors and nurses and other health professionals.
Societies reaction towards health professionals
The healthcare personnel are people who have to work, irrespective of the situations keeping their own health and lifestyle aside. The same people who appreciate these professionals with claps and salutes one day are the ones who a few days later come up against the will of evacuating the doctors and nurses away from their locality thinking about their own safety. Is our society so accustomed to Hippocratic appreciation? Even though health workers are said to be equivalent to god for saving lives they have to fight for all the basic needs and facilities and not just that, in certain areas, they have to even face abuses, harsh comments and whatnot. Instead of being supportive and putting forward a helping hand towards them, the society turns their back towards them lowering their morales. Keeping all that hardships aside they still stand in front to do their best to save their patients.
Basically, due to poor foundations, the building is lacking its strength. These foundations include lack of proper prior preparation, organisation, planning, execution, evaluation and education of the crisis condition. If we tackle and build these aspects of the foundation then our chaotic and weak pandemic situation will turn into simple, firm and easily manageable pandemic with much more positive feedbacks.
So to conclude I would like to say that our healthcare personnel’s are willing to work day and night but we as a society also play a major role by calmly following the guidelines and not making the situation a stressful and panicked one. My only plea to society is to please stay home, stay safe and my government should see to it that proper supplies are provided through an organized system so that we can face this pandemic together as one, effortlessly.
Nice observation n it’s presentation is even more gud..
Very well penned!!!
Yes, let’s fight this together !!
Well articulated Prema.As you said there should be an organised way of doing things .The Government has to take measures for the same.The health workers conditions are very bad ,it can be improved by providing them with all the amenities needed instead of just clapping or showering flowers .The doctors,nurses and teachers also face similar situation.They are working under lot of pressure and tension. I feel ,we should obey the rules put forward by the Government and keep ourselves safe and help to fight the pandemic together.
Thank you,hope this pandemic makes all of us strong
Article beautifully expressed.,let’s fight this together.
Yes Rosslyn ,god bless
Sister Prema, I agree with you in that the hard work of planning and preparation helps when the actual events of sick and suspect cases coming in or referrals from dispensaries occur. Despite these challenges, which can be understood keeping in mind that this is an unprecedented pandemic, the nursing staff has shown exemplary courage in being at the forefront of managing the fever ward(s), along with the Casualty and resident Medical officers.
Our Head, Matron, consultants, dispensary medical officers and nurses, housekeeping staff, canteen employees, ambulance drivers, pathology staff, administrative work force, in short all our employees have put in hard work.
Some of us do wish it were easier, in all fairness, but we have to sometimes work with what we have (and we are better equipped than many many establishments). That said, it is probably the absence initially of clear-cut and widely disseminated SOPs or protocols in the initial weeks to months that affected the morale of our health care workers. Nonetheless, as someone said, once the Titanic sank, everyone had an opinion on what could have been done to prevent it’s sinking!
COVID 19 is an unprecedented and novel pandemic for all of us. Hence, the consequent anxiety and confusion is not wrong. Time has given all of us, via observent clinician’s experience, data about this disease that is increasing all the time.
Fortunately, none of the affected healthcare employees have had a serious outcome, and that is a fact. That statistic should reassure us and reinforce again that all of us must practice universal precaution for every suspect case.
I congratulate you on your honest article which echoes the thoughts and emotions of many of us.
God Bless.
Thanks for your positivity
Prema the apathy show to practical requirements and the focus on public display of appreciation (hypocritical) has been stark. Its typical we worship women snakes animals on one hand and on the other treat them shabbily.. ditto here.. good to bring this out.. kudos!!
Yes gv ,wish things could have been different
Prema you have supported your work colleagues very well. This is the need of the hour . We all need to support and put our concerns as one unit . Only if HCW are alive and well will the hospitals be able to provide services. So our selfish need for PPE is for selfless care for those in need .
Thanks shree
Nice to put up these words. Lets fight the pandemic.
Yes,pressy,first hand experience
Well articulated. Pandemic like this needs social responsibility or else hospitals will be overwhelmed
Yes,basav,truly said
Nice to read this article,,,,sometime when we don’t have enough words ,we also try to express our emotions by pictures 🤗iam one of them
Sheetal,expression is important,well done
Well articulated Prema..
Thanks Ramesh for the quick response
Excellent mam
Hats off to you