Far away from home, NRBs brave the pandemic for sustenance
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“Most of my doctor friends have been infected by coronavirus”
Shakil Farid
Consultant cardiac surgeon, Oxford University Hospital, UK
The situation we are living in is extraordinary. Personally, I don’t have to go into work every day as we are conducting fewer operations now, as half of the intensive care unit beds in our hospital have been reserved for Covid-19 treatment.
The Oxford University Hospital has set up a network through which we can access all the reports of a patient in real time from home. We are consulting our patients under observation and the post-operative ones virtually, for now.
We are not allowed to head out unless it is very important. The ones who are outside are the front-line workers, delivery people, and the ones who are working in the essential sector.
The hospital has instructed us to carry our badges while heading out and many hospitals have given letters to their staff that can be shown to the police if asked for verification.
Generally, I am okay but deeply worried about Bangladesh. Given the lack of time, I think the UK’s National Health Service has managed the situation well with the limited resources. Yet, we lost around 20,000 people and the numbers are rising. God knows what will happen in Bangladesh.
Most of my friends who are working in London got affected with coronavirus and some of them even got admitted to hospital. Thankfully, most of them made uneventful recoveries. Things are getting better now.
However, we have been a bit depressed since we lost one of our friends, Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury. He passed away a few days back, and was only 52.
I was planning to go to Bangladesh to see my parents. My mom is sick. She has cancer and it makes me very sad that I cannot go to see her.
The pandemic has changed the lives of all of us. Life will not be the same anymore. I will not be going to football matches anymore or attending any big gatherings for a while until a vaccine is in place.