Health workers dying in battle — our bittersweet wound in the pandemic

24 doctors, 6 nurses  have already died during the Covid-19 crisis while in the line of duty

WHEN the coronavirus infects or takes away a doctor or a nurse from the frontlines of our fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), tragedy lays its heavy hand on our country and our people twice — first, by removing a vital cog in our public health system and second, by killing a medical professional whose expertise and objective is principally to save lives and not to lose his or her own.

Thus, it is indubitably a national tragedy that as of today, we have lost 30 health workers — 24 doctors and six nurses — to the pandemic since the emergency began in January.

This is the saddest news of all.

But there is also one bright piece of news, and this is the fact that 792 confirmed cases of Covid-19 have now recovered from their infections, thanks to the exertions of our healthcare professionals. Many of those who have fallen were partly instrumental in saving these lives.

The threat of the coronavirus to our health workers cannot be underestimated. It is real, and it is deadly.

On Saturday, the Department of Health (DoH) reported that the number of healthcare workers who have tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has already climbed to 1,101.

As explained by Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, 434 are physicians or doctors, 400 are nurses, 55 are nursing assistants, 32 are medical technologists, and 21 are radiologic technologists.

The Philippines on Saturday reported a total of 7,294 Covid-19 cases, 792 recoveries and 494 fatalities.

It is entirely understandable why the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) and the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) lamented on Friday the sorry fate of doctors and nurses attending to the needs of Covid-19 patients in hospitals.

In a DZMM interview, Dr. Joe Santiago, PMA president, reported that 24 doctors have already died “during the Covid-19 crisis while in the line of duty.”

About 300 doctors have already been infected with the virus, he disclosed.

“As of now, we still have personal protective equipment (PPE), but we need to sustain the supply,” he said.

To reduce the spread of Covid-19, he said, some hospitals have allowed their doctors to adopt a work shift that enables them to take two weeks off “while another set [of doctors] come in to report for duty.”

“A hospital nurse has a normal duty of eight hours. But it would be better if we could reduce their duty hours,” Dr. Rosie de Leon, PNA president, told DZMM in a separate interview.

“There are many persons under investigation, persons under monitoring and Covid-19 patients among nurses because they usually exceed work hours of 10 to 12 hours,” she said.

The PMA is now adopting “tele-konsulta” as another measure to avoid face-to-face consultations with possible Covid-19 or non-Covid-19 patients, Santiago said.

De Leon also called on the Health department to provide the medical workers with enough supply of PPE so they would not contract the disease.

“They have to go to the comfort room, to eat and whatever; so, they would need to take off their PPE [in the meantime]. Let’s see what we can do about this,” she added.

She said government hospitals lack PPE.

“The DoH has already ordered PPE. We are asking it to study the situation in every hospital. If we do not have enough PPE, Covid-19 cases will continue to go up, and consequently, there will not be enough manpower [of nurses] if they get sick,” she said.

“I think we already have 340 nurses who are Covid-19 positive,” she said.

The situation is alarming. We urgently need effective defensive measures to stop the erosion of our health manpower in the coronavirus war. If we lose more of these warriors, the wound to the nation will be bitter indeed.

The Manila Times, 27 Apr 2020