PETALING JAYA: A medical frontliner, exhausted by a year of battling the nation’s worst health crisis ever, is making a personal plea for Malaysians to stay home.
In an email to theSun that not only outlines the severity of the situation but also expresses personal fears, the frontliner asks Malaysians to work together to flatten the curve of new infections.
This, it was pointed out, can be done by observing the standard operating procedures by wearing a mask when in public places, avoiding large crowds and practising social distancing.
The situation is almost dire. The number of new cases reported daily hit new highs over the weekend.
The frontliner pointed out that the virus is already in the community and, as a result, up to 95% of all public health facilities have already been filled to capacity.
“The intensive care units (at hospitals) are stretched (to the limit). Even stadiums, buildings and hostels have been turned into quarantine centres,” the frontliner said.
Worse than that, people who have tested positive for Covid-19 have been made to wait for days before they are picked up by the ambulance.
“Doctors, nurses, radiographers and cleaners, as well as enforcement and border control officers are burning out. The healthcare system is at a breaking point,” the frontliner warned.
The frontliner, who is serving at the Infectious Diseases Department at Sungai Buloh Hospital, recalled being told to put off a sub-speciality training course in February last year to join in the Covid-19 war.
A day at the hospital begins with donning personal protective equipment, a process that take 30 minutes. Only then begins the process of seeing patients.
At the end of each day, it takes another 30 minutes for decontamination, followed by a hot shower before it is time to leave for home to be with the family.
Over and above that is the fear of bringing the virus home to loved ones.
“It is tough and mentally challenging,” the frontliner said.
Hopes soared when it was deemed safe enough for the economy to reopen in late 2020.
“However, people began to take it easy, brushing it aside as ‘just flu’,” the frontliner said.
This led to the third wave of the pandemic, which has been catastrophic.
“Our biggest fear is to fail as a system,” the frontliner said, expressing both professional and personal views.
The frontliner’s parting advice is: “Please stay home, and stay safe”.
