National Dcotor’s Day: ‘Coronavirus has brought the role of healthcare and doctors into prominence’

Prof Jagat Ram, PGIMER director

“I would like to extend my heartfelt greetings to all my respected teachers, seniors, fellow colleagues, students, resident doctors and fellows. Doctors’ Day celebrations in India offer us a great opportunity for spreading awareness about the roles, importance and responsibilities of doctors and also promote medical professionals to come closer and discharge the responsibilities of this esteemed profession with full devotion and dedication,” said Prof Jagat Ram, PGI director, extending his greetings to doctors.

Coronavirus, he said, has brought the role of healthcare and doctors in prominence, with doctors at the forefront of the fight against Covid– 19. “While most professionals worked from home, this is one profession where professionals have been recruited for in-person work. Dressed in full body suits, doctors have taken the coronavirus pandemic head-on and helped India through two disastrous waves of the pandemic over a year-and-a-half. The fight hasn’t been without sacrifice. India lost over 1,500 doctors to Covid-19 during the pandemic. Today is a day when we remember their invaluable sacrifices during selfless service. But as the former president of Indian medical association, Dr K K Agarwal, said just a few days before he succumbed to the deadly virus – ‘The show must go on’,” he said.

Dr Jagat Ram

Prof Ram added that it’s important to remember and commemorate the contributions of the medical fraternity to society, as doctors have made relentless efforts towards improving the overall health status of our country. “All of us should strive to provide compassionate and affordable care for all and it is important that we strongly condemn the attack on doctors and healthcare workers who are putting their best efforts to save the life of suffering humanity. As I look back at my over four-decade-long journey in the medical field, the only memories that make me smile are those of my patients smiling. I have practised ophthalmology in the specialty of cataract surgery for the better part of my ophthalmic career, and I have found no better pleasure than giving sight to a blind child for a lifetime.”

Dr R Gowtham Ram, Department of Hospital Administration

Dr R Gowtham Ram

Dr R Gowtham Ram joined PGI in January 2021 as Senior Resident in the Department of Hospital Administration. Soon after assuming charge of academics at the institute, Dr Gowtham soon realised that the Nehru Hospital Extension (the dedicated Covid Hospital) with 250 beds was running almost full capacity. It was a time when the nation was battling the second Covid wave with higher mortality/morbidity and affecting all age groups. Dr Gowtham volunteered to offer his expertise in Covid management at NHE. “Despite the shortfall of oxygen supply and other critical drugs, we at PGI foresaw the criticality and ensured smooth supply of these vital elements. Our staff across all categories stayed extremely motivated and expanded our bed strength from 250 to 450 beds. We then witnessed the mucormycosis wave which added to the complexity. We created a separate ward for these patients and ensured OT staffing and supply of essential drugs such as Liposomal Amphotericin B is seamlessly delivered. In addition, we ensured our Covid vaccination drive is on track. All our staff were trained and motivated to gear up for new challenges as we moved on in this journey. I’m immensely blessed and thank my superiors and all my team members for their unflinching support, which is driving us to deliver better patient care,” sums up Dr Gowtham.

Dr Tukaram, Department of Internal Medicine

Dr Tukaram

“I feel proud to be part of the NHE team at PGI and working for the benefit of patients coming from the surrounding five to six states. I thank my teachers, colleagues, juniors for being with me in handling this tough situation. Although it is a difficult experience for all of us, we all are now well prepared,” says Dr Tukaram, Department of Internal Medicine, PGI.

Dr Tukaram says that the initial beliefs that Covid-19 affects the elderly more seriously, no longer holds true, as we have seen many young people with no comorbidities having severe disease and many succumb to it. “We all know new variants are emerging from time to time, making the treatment difficult, As long as the pandemic continues, and as long as the virus continues to spread, its variants are expected to come. So if we want to stop the variants, we need to stop the virus. But the basic precautions irrespective of the strain are same, and the vaccines we have can still protect from the various variants, and the immune response we get from the vaccines is much stronger than the body’s own natural immunity. The third wave is predicted by experts, but we can all prevent/control it by following basic precautions,” adds Dr Tukaram.

Dr Tamvir, Department of Anaesthesia

Dr Tamvir

“I have always been considered as a Jack of all trades inside the operating theatres by my medical/surgical fraternity but have rarely been known to the patients as like all anaesthesiologists. I too have been working behind the scenes. The Covid-19 pandemic has however given me a new identity in the form of Covid warrior and re-defined the roles and responsibilities of healthcare providers like me throughout the world,” says Dr Tamvir, Department of Anaesthesia, PGI. Clad in personal protective equipment, the doctor says she is now even more unrecognizable to her patients, but the hope she sees in their eyes when she manages their airways, provides them with oxygen, ventilates them and the warmth that the she feels when she discharges them to go back home, is comparable to the faith a devotee has for the higher power. “The hugs that I don’t get from my 9-year-old son when I am away on Covid duty, the anxiety I see in my mom’s eye and the silence on my dad’s wrinkled lips is worth a life saved in the Covid ICUs. The best decision of my life was to be an anaesthesiologist and I am waiting for the decision to boomerang, when my son chooses his medical speciality,” smiles Dr Tamvir.

Dr Kapil Goyal, Department of Virology

An Associate Professor at the Department of Virology at PGI, Dr Kapil Goyal is working as part of the Covid-19 diagnostic team. Dr Goyal has played a key role in the establishment of the Covid-19 diagnostic facility at the institute. The lab started by testing about 50 samples a day and increased its capacity to 2,000 samples daily. The lab has recently been identified as a high throughput testing lab by the Department of Health Research and will be geared to test up to 4000 to 5000 samples per day if required.

Dr Kapil Goyal

“This lab has provided 24-hour services for both Gene Xpert and Real time PCR for Covid-19 and the credit goes to my colleagues and staff who worked day and night to establish the working protocols for high throughput testing,” says Dr Goyal, who has received training on quality management systems at Victorian Infectious Diseases lab. He stresses that the main motto of the lab is to provide quality service so that quality of the tests performed can match international standards.

Dr Goyal says that this lab is fully prepared to handle any other pandemics in the future and also will be geared up to perform additional molecular tests for improving patient care in the institute.

Dr Vikas Sharma, Chief Consultant Dermatologist

Dr Vikas Sharma

Since the start of Covid-19, the challenges of running OPDs and OTs have been paramount. While the PGI and GMCH OPDs were closed, ours at National Skin Hospital was open throughout the pandemic,” says Dr Vikas Sharma, Chief Consultant Dermatologist, National Skin Hospital. Dr Sharma says that during the pandemic, he started identifying cutaneous signs of Covid, as some signs appeared earlier than classical symptoms.

“Vesicular eruptions appeared earliest in the course of Covid-19, prior to any other symptoms in 15 per cent of cases; these developed on the trunk and extremities, were most common in middle-aged adults, and typically lasted around ten days. In contrast, the pseudo-chilblains eruption which has received much attention occurred later. In almost two thirds (59 per cent) of patients, these lesions developed after other symptoms. Pseudo-chilblain acral lesions correlated with a milder disease course and younger patient age. Livedo and necrosis, however, indicated more severe Covid illness and a poor prognosis. The challenges and learnings continue,” adds Dr Sharma.