Short on sleep & rest, docs are being stretched to limit

B.Kishansingh
Hubballi: “I have small corner in my house reserved for myself. I have my breakfast and lunch there. I avoid having lunch at home and my son brings me lunch everyday. In fact it’s been months since I ate with my family. Ever since the start of the pandemic, I have not taken leave for even a single day. I visit the hospital on Sundays too for a round to check on the critical patients,” says Ishwar Hasabi, head of the department of medicine at Karnataka Institute of Medical.
It is a grim sentiment shared by thousands of health-care workers on the front line of the pandemic.
Dr Hasabi says he has been livingin a separate room in his house to avoid infecting other members of the family— his wife, son and elderly parents. “I hardly get any time for them nowadays,” he says.
“Since the start of the pandemic, attending calls of patients’ relatives and other doctors have become a regular routine. I get calls till midnight. No doubt — our lives have been disturbed a lot, but it’s our duty to save lives. I don’t think of it as a burden. We will continue to work till the pandemic ends,” Dr Hasabi says.
“All KIMS staff are working day and night in the fight against Covid-19. The list of front line workers is quite big, be it a medicine department or pulmonology department or cardiology, everyone is putting their lives under risk and treating the patients,” says Dr Rajshekhar Dyaberi, deputy superintendent of KIMS.
“I hardly get time for my family. With children at home, I have taken extra precaution. The pandemic has definitely affected our lives — we do not eat on time, nor do we sleep well,” he says.
“Handling the relatives of Covid patients is a big challenge,” says Dr Ram Kaulgud who is in-charge of plasma treatment at the hospital.
“Most of them approach to convince me to give plasma to the patient which he/she may not actually require. Obtaining plasma for a critically ill patient is really challenging. Yes, we are working day and night, but the gratitude and happiness of the recovered patients makes us forget mental and physical toil,” he says.
“We are happy that the KIMS is earning a good name for treating Covid patients. It’s the hard work of all our doctors, paramedical-nursing staff and group D workers. They have all immersed themselves in treating the patients. If we miss any name it will be an injustice to them. The list is very big,” said KIMS director Dr Ramlingappa Antartani.