As Maharashtra grapples with rising COVID-19 cases and a healthcare system stretched out of its means, a doctor named Dr. Trupti Gilada has shared an emotional video on social media. In this video, Dr. Trupti talks about the exacerbating coronavirus situation in Mumbai and worsening situation in other states. Talking about Mumbai's coronavirus situation, Dr. Trupti says, "The situation in Mumbai is so bad that ICUs are in waiting and there are no beds for patients."
The overworked doctor talked at length about the helplessness of doctors since they have never experienced something like this before and how they have to administer oxygen to patients at home. "I have never felt this helpless and hopeless before... we have to literally manage patients at home with oxygen and this is not something we are enjoying." She then goes on to advise people to stay safe. She notes further that people should not believe that they have very good immunity because they did not contract the COVID-19 infection last year.
Dr. Trupti says, "We are seeing many young patients now. We have a 35-year old who is on the ventilator and we are not able to help people now. So, we really don't want to be in that situation." She also warned that since COVID-19 is everywhere right now and "if you step outside your house, maybe you are meeting your friends, maybe you are meeting your family, it does not matter. You have to be masked." She adds that the mask needs to cover your nose and mouth.
She further mentions that there is no need to panic if you experience fever or other symptoms and get in touch with your doctor immediately. Dr. Trupti appealed to people to "leave beds for people who actually need it" and people should avoid getting admitted in the hospitals because of panic as they don't have enough beds for the patients who actually need oxygen like those who have pneumonia and also those who need close medical attention. She talks about managing patients at home and searching for beds for so many people.
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She then urges people to go ahead and take the vaccine. Dr. Trupti says, "If you have not taken the vaccine due to any reason, be it due to travel, vaccine hesitancy, or due to some WhatsApp forwards suggesting that vaccines have some side effects, it is untrue. Please take your vaccine. We can see the people who have taken both the shots of the vaccine and it's already been two weeks don't report many serious infections and almost no hospitalisation. So, the vaccine is definitely helping."
She then says that people should not take COVID-19 lightly and "pray for the people in the hospital and please pray for the families and caretakers of all these people in hospitals." She further states that people need to stay at home for a few weeks till the situation stabilises in hospitals. She further said, "The situation is so bad that doctors and their relatives are not getting hospital beds and it is an absolutely helpless situation."
On an ending note, she says if people take care, then we will be able to tackle the second wave and will have to work towards ensuring that a third wave does not strike us.
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A Delhi-based anesthesiology resident Saandhra also put out an emotional Instagram post about how she has been telling people that their loved ones will recover when she knows that they can't make it. She also told about an emotional encounter that her colleague had with a COVID patient. Saandhra writes, "The last words of one of our patients before my friend intubated her was that she has an 11 and a 4 year-old at home, not to let her die (she died)."
She further talked about the harrowing scenes at the hospital every day, "Telling children that they may not get their mother's body, mothers standing before us with folded hands asking us to save their children's lives, looking at packed bodies and telling myself to stop thinking and go on with my work."
The doctor from Delhi says that lockdowns are not as emotionally draining and that people need to mask up. Saandhra writes, "Trust me your lockdowns are not difficult... You haven't seen the horrors we see... I wish I could show you the videos of the pain I see, just to scare everyone enough for you to stay inside..."
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