Daily Times

At a private hospital, in the good part of town, we are given strict instructions to limit our time with inpatients and their attendants. I’m upstairs in the wards, but as the hospital is a public place, you never know where the person standing 2 feet from you has been. So it’s better to limit contact, as much as possible.

Contact precautions are the way to go, since protective gear is scarce and ER staff is given priority, considering that they have the maximum amount of exposure.

With cases increasing exponentially in Pakistan, things are looking grim. We, as health professionals have accepted that we will contact the virus and there’s not much we can do about it. Our best bet at a time like this is to fight the virion to the best of our ability by strengthening our immune system and by trying out best not to give it to others, patients and family members. Both are not really in our complete control.

Prolonged work hours and very eccentric eating habits, these two things come with the job. Add spine breaking stress on top and you have the perfect recipe for weakened immunity.

Pakistan and the world, at large has never faced a pandemic like this. As a third world country we are not equipped to provide gear and support to doctors and nurses as well as the general public. What we can do is to limit exposure and decrease the incidence. For that, I would urge whoever is reading this, to stay at home, to practice social distancing especially from people who are immune compromised, wash hands, avoid face touching. Prevention is always always better than cure.

Thank you.