A young doctor at JIPMER, who recovered from COVID-19, is back to treating patients at the institution.
P.V. Midhuna, 24, was posted on COVID-19 duty from May 6 to12 and tested positive on May 30. She was hospitalised till June 13, followed by a seven-day quarantine post discharge. The doctor who is an M.D. in dermatology was back for duty in the COVID-19 block on June 22.
Dr. Midhuna was the first medical professional at JIPMER — and in Puducherry — to be infected, and she hopes sharing her experience will help motivate healthcare personnel under enormous mental stress. “It all started with that call. I casually picked up my phone, expecting to hear the word “negative”. But to my surprise, the person on the other side said the opposite. That word threw me into a state of chaos. I could barely hear what he said thereafter,” she said.
Before Dr. Midhuna knew it, an ambulance and PPE-clad people arrived at her doorstep to put her among COVID-19 patients. Apart from an irrational guilt that she might have transmitted COVID-19 to others, she was also worried about panicking her parents, so, she informed her sister and brother instead.
“All the while, I was being flooded by calls for contact tracing and I was focusing on helping with it since that was the most critical thing to do,” she said.
The 10 days in hospital was a learning curve for the doctor. From calls and messages from professors, friends, seniors and juniors which made her realise that she was not alone in this fight to the cleaning staff, who talked about their difficulties of wearing the PPE and fogged glasses and shared their fear of becoming patients themselves.
“In the process of reassuring them I did end up becoming a better listener. In retrospect, this experience has surely made me stronger and more empathetic towards people around, especially my patients,” Dr. Midhuna said.
“The hospital authorities also arranged a warm welcome for me on the first day of my duty and expressed their happiness to see me back. Now I am able to reassure my patients with greater confidence citing myself as an example to help alleviate their fear,” the doctor remarked.
Her request to anyone with a colleague or friend happens to be infected is: Avoid asking questions such as “Any idea how you got it?”. Instead, just let them know you are merely a call away.
Also, while pointing to a situation where a few of the same neighbours who had celebrated with diyas (lamps) and clapping created problems in the neighbourhood once she tested positive, she said symbolism alone was not enough. “The real time to show solidarity is when someone near you tests positive,” Dr. Midhuna added.