Doctors and healthcare workers are at highest risk during this corona pandemic. The fatality rates are much higher in doctors than those among the general population.
By now everyone must have understood how the corona virus originated, spread in Wuhan then the rest of the world. I am here not to talk about the economic impact of it. I am here to talk about the doctors who are getting infected because of the disease and the treatment what we do to these people.
When a common man gets the disease it’s usually from the fomite transmission, where a patient touches the surface and another person comes in contact with that and that’s how a person gets the disease. But when a treating doctor get the disease he gets it directly from the COVID 19 person and the initial viral load is so much that the disease seriousness and the fatality rates are much higher in doctors than those among the general population.
If we look at the number of cases in Italy which is a classic example, and numbers are quite reliable. It is (as on 5/4/2020) 2061 cases per million. But more than 5000 health care professionals were affected because of this virus and more than 40 of them had died as on march 26, 2020. They don’t represent a huge population despite that the number of cases and the fatalities tell the story.
Here is what we should be doing, get more and more of the personal protection kits to the health care professionals, may it be doctors, nurses, lab technicians, housekeeping staff and even those who take the waste out of the hospital for disposal. We must understand one thing that doctors and nurses are not the front line workers. The onus is on you, the common man who helps himself and others by maintaining the safe distancing policies, sanitation and helping spread the virus to limited and stopped.
Health care professionals’ are the last line of defense. If any person gets affected with the disease he needs to be monitored till he tests negative for the disease. That means till that time work force gets depleted every time a staff gets affected. We cannot afford to do that. It is not that we are not ready to work again after the illness gets over. Unfortunately if a HCW continues to work, he may be a reason to spread to other people including the loved ones. If they happen to be an elderly person in the family death rates are really high among them.
If we happen to lose any HCW, there are no avenues to replace them. For instance an anesthetist and an intensivist is basically irreplaceable. As these are the people who can take the person out of the death bed. Even if there are ICU’s and ventilators and patients on them there will be no one to handle that. First of the all the HCW’s have high risk of death, on top of that if the family gets affected it cannot be a bad thing than that.
All that we as doctors would urge you, please do not take this as simple thing. It is a matter of grave concern to everyone on this earth. Please follow the practices what are advised, don’t hide history and report to the nearest facility where a sick person can be handled.
Dr Manjunath Sharma
Chiguru children’s clinic
Bank colony, Hanumanthnagar
Bengaluru-560050
Email: drmanjusharma@gmail.com Mob:9342620484
