An Auxiliary Nurse Midwifery (ANM) staffer, a head nurse and a PG student have been among many others who have contracted COVID-19, but frontline medical personnel have not let their guard down.
Undaunted by family pressure, social stigma and the risk of contracting the infection, they have been at the forefront of the battle against the pandemic.
An ANM working at Reddypalem tested positive recently was conducting a door-to-door survey in a red zone, when she tested positive. However, the authorities were surprised after they had learnt that her daughter was being treated for a rare disease, which needed her close attention. They let her undergo home quarantine. The woman is being assisted by her family as she tends to her young daughter.
Duty first
One of the first positive cases in Guntur is a PG attending to her duties at the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Gorantla. The doctor used to stay in a working women’s hostel at Brodipet. She attended to patients at the ID Hospital, which was the first COVID hospital in the district, even when personal protective equipment was in short supply.
After testing positive, she was shifted to an isolation facility. Her roommates were also shifted to the facility, and soon after quarantine period, she resumed work.
A young paediatrician was attending duties at a COVID hospital and her parents are an anxious lot, but once she is in the hospital, she works with single-minded dedication. “We used to get tense in the early days of the outbreak, but we are getting used to this experience. We also realise that this is not going to go away in the near future and we feel proud of our daughter,’’ said her father. With Guntur recording a record number of positive cases (387), the frontline medical personnel have stood up. Whether working in eight-hour shifts in diagnostic labs, attending to patients in critical care units or heading the teams in ICUs, the medical professionals have truly placed service above self.
