Tiruchi
On 22 March 2020, a young foreign passenger landed at Tiruchi International Airport, a few days before the announcement of COVID-19 lockdown by the central government. The passenger turned out to be the first COVID-19 positive patient in the district. A year after the first case was detected, health officials have again moved their appeal to the public to continue following the COVID-19 protocol as the epidemic is far from over.
K. For Vanita, Dean, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital, the year was one of resilience. He said that healthcare workers knew little about COVID-19 so that they could become experts in detecting and treating infections.
“Many of us had only read about RT-PCR tests in textbooks as students. For the first few weeks, we were completely dependent on the King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research, Chennai.”
In three months’ time, a team of doctors and nurses was able to understand the pattern of infection, and how to treat it effectively.
“The Department of Microbiology, at KAP Viswanatham Government Medical College, was approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research to conduct RT-PCR testing from March 24. With only one machine and a few technicians, the Department of Microbiology can do just 100. A day. Testing, now at least 3,000 samples are processed every day.
“Within a year, we have become experts,” K. Lakshmi, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology. He said that a team used to work round the clock, now most of the work is automated. Only one task takes a long time – matching the code numbers to the swab.
SN Jayabharati, Superintendent of Nursing, MGMHH and Joint Secretary, Tamil Nadu Nurses Association, opined that the epidemic helped highlight the quality of government health facilities. “There were patients who had never stepped into a government hospital before. When they recovered, they told their near and dear ones about the facilities here,” she said.
When matters were at its peak, Onus was on superiors like her to inspire the nurses posted in the COUID-19 wards, Ms. Jayabharati said. “We would tell them that people’s lives depended on them, and they understood the seriousness,” she said. Most of them stayed in the hospital for months, without visiting their families. “It was our home, and the patients were our family,” she said.
With a slight increase in COVID-19 over the past few weeks, Dr. Vanita issued a warning to the public to be vigilant.
“We continue to insist on social distance, wearing masks, and vaccinations. It seems that some negative information has spread on social media about the side effects of the vaccine, but there has been no adverse reaction to it. In fact, taking the vaccine This is the last step in beating the virus, ”he said.
Doctors hope to see the day when the infection soon subsides on the lines of dengue.
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