Medical Infantry Vs COVID

Dear Editor, The Indian scenario of COVID-19 is catching up with the trails of the British pathway. Experiencing the world's largest lockdown since March 24th and continuing to remain as a front-line healthcare worker brings chaos in the mindset of not only me but every healthcare professional. While the nation is trying to combat the situation in full swing by identifying dedicated hospitals for isolation and quarantine procedures, contact tracing of the identified positive cases, we healthcare professionals are at the mercy of the minimal personal protective gears and step into the war zone every day without much immunity against the threat staring in our face. Although the race to remedy COVID-19 with vaccines and anti-virals is nearing its finish line, standing in the frontline of war, awaiting our ammunition, makes the emotional rollercoaster harder to ride. People for whom we are fighting do not seem to understand the risk and sacrifice we put forward and consider us as a source of spread, having known the lack of protective gear in the workplace. Fear of being an asymptomatic carrier ourselves despite being the champions of hand hygiene and social distancing, refrains us from our friends and family and resets the clock of containment after every visit to the hospital. Being separated from our families for the sake of risk that our profession brings to us, makes us burn our midnight oil in loneliness and prayers for these tough times to end soon. Although we were able to get connected remotely, we were forced to give false assurance on our safety, despite the reality, to calm their minds. More than ourselves, the emotional trauma that our family members experience is unimaginable. Having seen the demise of the health care workers in other COVID affected nations who worked without proper personal protection, they urge us to deny our services without proper personal protection but they do not understand the sufferings of the affected people for whom we are the only hope of survival. Hence, we continue to work, with fear in our minds, prayers for our families without a clear way forward. We hope that we do not step into the shoes of nations like Italy or China to lose their medical soldiers to this pandemic and continue to believe in our national health system to equip us with the necessary protection so that we can fight with pride and glory and win the battle for all of us together.