Our medical frontliners battle on

KUALA LUMPUR (March 18): While most Malaysians staying or working at home on this first day of the restricted movement order that will last till March 31, a bunch of people have been making heavy sacrifices ever since the dreaded COVID-19 landed on our shores. The medical frontliners.

In a battle with an almost invisible enemy, our warriors now are not soldiers, sailors and airmen, but the medical professionals.

Take medical officer Faiqah Nastasha (pictured) who works Sungai Buloh Hospital for example. She described how she has to put on her PPE suit every time she treats a patient with COVID-19 and then dispose it and shower.

She ends up showering more than five times a day and she also has to worry about her hygiene when she gets home as she is still breastfeeding her baby. And her greatest chore is to dry her long hair after every shower.

And so what did she do? She lobbed off her hair.

“So out of frustration, I grab a pair of scissor and chop my hair off. Why? Sebab tak sempat nak kering despite ada hair dryer. It is horrible and I look like Ronald McDonald. But I have awesome self confidence to pull it off,” she wrote in a Facebook posting.

Her husband is also in full support of her actions. “Even if you are botak or whatever, I still love you,” he said with a hug.

House man Sean Thum felt a higher calling when he found out he was to be deployed in Johor as a Medical Officer to combat COVID-19.

“When I was informed my name has been put into the pool of Medical Officers deployed to manage the front lines for the Covid-19 pandemic in Johor, I probably felt the same as Yue Fei when he received an Imperial Order by the Emperor to carry out a mission,” Thum wrote in his Facebook posting on March 14.

“I felt I was ready to serve my country. #DemiMalaysia”, he said.

He also asked for the support of all Malaysians in these dark times.

“This pandemic will pass, eventually. But before that, we all have to work together to overcome the challenges it throws at us. Remember, the virus does not discriminate on who it infects.

“Let's work hand in hand, together,” he said.

Things were already getting busy earlier this month even before COVID-19 cases started to spike.

A posting on March 7 by medical officer Ferwahn Fairis working at Serdang Hospital described the long hours.

“They started on duty at 8 am this morning, and will continue to see the patient until 8 pm before the shift changes. Their shift is 12 hours.

“Why 12 hours? Because so far, the amount of ‘pool’ group of doctors trained is quite small and this amount still hasn't allowed an eight-hour shift to be implemented (3 shift/day). Soon, this amount will increase from 26 people to 40+, after doctors who are recruited from all departments and other units in the hospital complete the training module that has been set,” Ferwahn said.

“Apart from the burden of many patients, the duration of the screening process of a patient can take up to 45 minutes. Officers need to copy their MNU (Personal Protective equipment such as mask, double gloves, face shield, Apron, etc) for every filtered patient,” he added.

“May this sharing be a little bit of helping the community understand what's going on in the COVID-19 screening tent in the hospitals around the Klang Valley now,” he explained.

So, folks, do not complain about having to stay at home over the weekend owing to the restricted movement order and have a thought and prayer for these outstanding Malaysians in the medical profession.