On Covid duty, doc couple away from son for 5 months

MEERUT: At the maternity ward of a prominent government hospital in Meerut, gynaecologist Shweta Maheshwari cradles newborns in her arms every other day. It’s been five months, however, since she held her own child, a son who’s a little over two years old.
Maheshwari and her husband Sanket Tyagi, a paediatrician, have not been home since March when Covid-19 erupted in India. In the first week of March, the doctor couple moved out of their family home to a rented accommodation, leaving their child, Kushagra, with his grandparents. Both husband and wife are posted at LLRM Medical College and have frequently been on duty in the Covid ward.
"We know we can’t expose our child or parents to the virus but, at the same time, we have to do our duty so we chose to move elsewhere," said Maheshwari. "Now every time I hold a newborn, I can’t help but feel sad that my own baby is away from me," she added.
Phone calls have been regular, but meetings contactless, and few and far between. "We have only met our son a few times in the past months and during these visits my wife and I sat in one car and he sat in another with his grandparents," said Tyagi.
While at home, the grandparents are finding it hard to explain to the young boy why his parents have to be away, the couple is also struggling with this separation.
Doctors posted on Covid duty have had a hard time since the outbreak as many of them have been staying away from families, missing out on important occasions and undergoing long quarantine periods once their shifts are over. For doctor couples, it’s been tougher as sometimes both husband and wife have been on Covid duty in government hospitals, often leading to requests seeking exemption for one of them so they can take care of their families.
For Maheshwari, not seeing her child for so many months is taking a mental toll. She has even mulled leaving her job but the thought of quitting in the middle of a pandemic when doctors are required on the frontlines stops her every time. "Kushagra now cries when we call him. It always ends with a promise that we will see him soon, but we don’t know when that will be," she said.