A day to celebrate White Coat Warriors

NATIONAL DOCTOR’S DAY

A day to celebrate White Coat Warriors

MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED DOCTORS IN THE CITY RETURNED TO WORK AFTER BEATING COVID

Paul John@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad: 01.07.2020

The city became a hotspot for Covid-19 by mid-April with daily cases going above 150 regularly. By the beginning of June, the number had touched 300. The death toll also kept rising. But amid the pandemic, doctors gave the virus a tough fight.

As India celebrates National Doctors’ Day on July 1 to mark the birth and death anniversary of former West Bengal chief minister Dr BC Roy, the focus is on White Coat Warriors. Dr Roy also contributed to the foundation of Indian Medical Association (IMA) and Medical Council of India (MCI).

Various doctor organizations claim the figure of 100-plus doctors who have got infected in both public and private hospitals. The city IMA quotes the names of two members and one non-member who succumbed to the infection in the city.

Dr M M Prabhakar, OSD at Medicity, said that it was not easy for doctors to don PPE kits and work for hours at a stretch when cases are spiking. “But the staff at Civil Hospital, led by superintendent Dr J P Modi, work round the clock, ensuring the implementation of the latest treatment protocols,” he said.

The 100-plus days of Covid-19 also brought in radical changes in healthcare delivery, said Dr Jaswantsinh Darbar, vice-president, Ahmedabad zone of IMA. “Many doctors preferred to stay away from families to ensure their safety from infection,” he said. “You see plastic curtains, doctors in protective gear from head to toe, and the use of disinfectants as a routine. All that took a lot of time for doctors to get used to.”