The team of doctors here says that the second wave is different as it is bringing in more critical patients.
After making frantic rounds of Covid wards at Punjab’s biggest civil hospital for seven hours, Dr Bhupinder Singh has finally taken off his PPE suit. But there is no time to rest as calls from patients in home isolation and even junior doctors pour in for consultation.
At the fore-front of treating Level-2 and Level-3 patients at the Jalandhar Civil Hospital since last year, Dr Singh says his entire team has been working 24×7 to help people at the time of this mammoth crisis.
“There are no ‘duty, off-duty’ hours. We have to save lives,” he says, in between calls.
Jalandhar Civil Hospital has 200 beds are dedicated for the L-2 patients and 56 beds are for the L-3 patients. The team of doctors here says that the second wave is different as it is bringing in more critical patients.
“For the last over one year, my job has been to attend the Covid patients. The only difference I could notice between the first and the second wave is that now the disease seems more infectious and the number of critical cases are more,” said Dr Singh.
Adding that he is on call round-the-clock, he says: “We are not worried about our personal lives but are only focusing on our patients so that we can save their lives. We want to educate others to help the medical fraternity by following the norms and remaining at home if there is no work outside.”
An MBBS from Government Rajindra Medical College, Patiala, and MD in Medical from Government Amritsar Medical College, Dr Singh was also the first doctor at Jalandhar Civil Hospital to take the vaccine jab, when most doctors were still wary.
“I was never afraid of attending Covid patients from the day one. I had even refused a promotion, which would have kept me away from patients because after promotion my job would be of administrative nature,” he added.
On May 7 last year, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had spoken to the doctor on video call and appreciated his work.
“My only humble request to the people is that people should save their and others lives and should not burden the health infrastructures which have already stretched to its limits,” he said, adding people should take measures to stop becoming a carrier.
But he is not the only one in the family working without leave to serve Covid patients.
His wife, Dr Satinder Kaur, is a pathologist in the Civil Hospital and stays equally busy with her work in the fight against the pandemic. “The virus has changed our lives. Not only do we maintain distance from our families,” she said.
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