Vadodara: “Feeling helpless for my patients. Not able to provide bed, remdesivir, tocilizumab, even option of other hospitals as all are full. If things continue like this, whole system will collapse,” wrote a doctor on his social media status. Little would he have imagined that this would go viral.
A screenshot of the status by Dr Rahul Vasava was widely shared on social media. And heavyweight ruling BJP MLA Shailesh Mehta also shared it on his Facebook page giving it a further boost.
When contacted, Vasava said that he had written the status as he was feeling helpless when he had to turn down a couple of his old patients. “I called up five or six hospitals to help them, but none had a vacant bed. I was feeling helpless that I could not do anything for them,” he said.
Vasava said that he often worried about what would happen given the situation.
“I have to send by staff with transportation to get oxygen cylinders. I worry what would happen if it got delayed on someday,” he said.
The doctor, however, added that such frustration and feeling of helplessness was only temporary. “We know that we will have to work hard and keep going on despite all odds,” he said. Vasava pointed out that many in his fraternity were in a similar condition.
Sources said that several doctors were of an opinion that the situation was very grim and if this continued they will also be helpless.
“The government hospitals and large corporate hospitals are managing. Someone needs to look into the needs of the smaller hospitals. They are today treating a large number of patients,” said a doctor.
President of Setu, the association of private hospitals in the city, Dr Krutesh Shah said that doctors often felt the crunch of resources. “But we need to fight with whatever we have on hand. We will have to keep our morale high else the entire system will collapse. The society too needs to ensure that it keeps up the spirits of doctors to ensure they keep battling it out,” he said.