Do medics get sick? Or do doctors get indisposed? Well, medics are angels in human bodies, experiencing all the emotions and problems the average human does. I have had to respond quite a number of times to the question, "Do you doctors also get sick?" Then, I reply to them with, "We are humans also."
The year was 2020, during the COVID-19🦠😷pandemic, where the world was static yet hazy, we the medics had our scares as the disease was both new and alarming. The initial days of the lockdown witnessed a low patronage as patients had a disease scare worse than that which was troubling them. But you know, there are the stubborn patients and there are those that would come like the need arises, such as the pregnant woman.
The medical director called all the seven doctors working in the hospital into his office and informed us of the need to design protocols and guidelines to combat the deadly disease that we would soon be faced with. He asked for a volunteer among us to lead the COVID-19🦠😷 protocol and for a moment, the office was as silent as a graveyard. Sure I had seniors among us even though I was not the least. And, after the option of volunteering is exhausted in any situation, the nomination option usually comes up. After few minutes of silence, we were asked to nominate someone. Surprisingly, nobody was equally willing to nominate another as the risk was obvious.
"I'll volunteer, sir." I heard myself saying, immediately having pairs of eyes stare at me with a sigh of relief as the tensed atmosphere gradually abated. Immediately after I said that, I wondered if I was in my senses to have volunteered and questioned severally why I put my life at risk for a disease without cure. That was how the meeting came to an end, with the implication that I was the focal person when it came to COVID-19🦠😷.
I remember an encounter with an obstinate patient who was not hypertensive but desired to have his BP checked by the commonly used sphygmomanometer, despite my efforts to dissuade him as a result of the pandemic. I could not contain my laughter when he asked me to sanitize the sphygmomanometer cuff before and after use. It was awkward, and I knew I was on a long ride with him. He wanted to frustrate me, and thankfully, I was able to scare him away from going ahead. Well, that was a new dimension to our medical practice in the hospital, avoiding exposing patients to a medical condition through diagnostic measures that are not necessary.
I designed and put measures in place to combat and limit the exposure of healthcare workers in the hospital to patients suspected to have COVID-19🦠😷. I remember writing a precautionary measure to be taken by Nurses when attending to a particular patient I suspected to have the disease, and like flies chased away, everyone declined to attend to the patient. There, I learned to be discreet, yet not jeopardizing the safety of my staff. Of course, the patient didn't know I had tipped my staff to show extra caution in the patient's management. We limited patient's relatives from visiting and this constituted a nuisance that made the staff call me often to diffuse.
Not too long into the pandemic, two of our staff tested positive for the pandemic, and I was kept abreast of happenings in the isolation center. The Ministry of Health staff invited all staff to come to their office for testing. There were many rumors of fabricated test results so as to attract government gestures, and like my colleague said, the psychology behind the pandemic killed faster than the disease.
"Sir, it will be unwise to have the staff tested for COVID-19🦠😷, almost everyone would be said to be positive and this will crumble the hospital, as well as risk the jobs of the staff." I said to the medical director. I was able to convince him not to honour the invitation for the testing and, this saved us a great deal.
In an unrelated time, I had the classical symptoms of the pandemic, and I had to stay away from work and family, observing the regulations ascribed to the management of the condition. A friend of mine was tested positive twice, I think, and I had to distance myself from him also. It was a trying time for both medics and the populace alike.
When the pandemic began to abate, the medical director appreciated my doggedness, and shortly after, I resigned from the hospital due to a better offer. I was given a 33% bonus in addition to my parting salary. The period was hectic, but I was glad we all managed to scale through collectively.