Doctors' Finest Hour

The world had a harrowing time over the last 18 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The unprecedented public health emergency drew out the best and worst in people. Many showed compassion and empathy and offered a helping hand to others; a few took advantage of these extraordinary times for their personal gain.

The pandemic has been the hardest period for the doctors, nurses and paramedical staff. Hundreds lost their own lives fighting on the frontlines of the war on Covid, or of their loved ones. Those infected were quarantined away for weeks. But they all rose to the occasion and put themselves in the harm's way to do what they do best: provide succour and save lives. It was their finest hour that will long be remembered.

Doctors fought hard in their personal and professional lives to push back Covid-19. They remained away from their families for weeks and months, despite being in the same city. The families could just pray for them while their fathers and sons and husbands were battling on the forefront against all odds and equally vulnerable to the deadly virus.

This feat of theirs can be compared with what I had witnessed, as an army officer, during war situations on the border. Probably this battle performance of doctors was even more difficult than that, as we were all fighting against an invisible enemy that could strike anyone at will. Doctors proved themselves for what they are: a national asset to be protected, safeguarded and respected.

The worst part for me as a doctor was to see patients dying in front of us as we looked on helpless. It was a new disease that spread like wildfire. Treatment protocols were uncertain. Vaccines were still being researched in labs. Health system got quickly overwhelmed. Even patients who could have been saved died because we ran out of beds, of supplies, of oxygen, of resources. We had to stop taking calls from people and at times even had to avoid messages, not because we didn't want to help, but because we were helpless and exhausted – physically, mentally, emotionally.

The Coronavirus is resilient. It mutates and multiplies and spreads. The third wave is inevitable and the final battle of Covid war is yet to be fought. But we doctors are ready in the trenches and much better prepared now. We will win ultimately and the virus will lose, of that I am sure.

(The author is Managing Director & CEO of Interventional Pain and Spine Centre (IPSC), a chain of single-specialty Pain and Spine Hospitals)