Mysuru: Covid services without break brings honour to this doctor Naveen

Mysuru: "This honour doesn't belong to me alone. I am only a representative of all the corona warriors. It is a pleasure to accept this felicitation on behalf of all the doctors who are working relentlessly without any break since March," said, Dr Naveen T R.

He is one among five corona warriors, who have been chosen for felicitation at the Dasara inaugural ceremony atop Chamundi hills on October 17. And he is one of the three selected from health department for the honour.

Dr Naveen is a senior medical officer at HHMBG (His Highness Maharaja Bodyguard Hospital) urban primary healthcare centre (UPHC) on Chamundi hills road in Mysuru. The doctor has not taken a break since March.

Since June when the UPHC was designated as testing centre, he and his team of 15 colleagues including two lab technicians have screened more than 5,000 people for Covid-19 and he has become a role model for others in the medical fraternity.

For the safety of his family, Dr Naveen, who is exposed daily to potential Covid patient, has been living in a flat of his cousin and away from his wife Shwetha, son Siddarth, a class IX student, father T Rangegowda, a retired government engineer, and mother Prema. He gets food parcels from his home and meets his family from a distance.

Born in Mysuru, he is 1995-batch MBBS graduate from Sri Adichunchangiri Institute of Medical Sciences in Mandya district. He served at a private hospital for two years before joining health department in 2006.

He was awarded the best medical officer by the health department for his services while he was working at Rathapuri in Hunsur taluk. Since 2015, he has been serving as senior medical officer at HHMBG UPHC in Mysuru and he sees at least 80 patients a day.

Dr Naveen said that his family is happy about the felicitation. "There is no big celebration. I am just doing my job sincerely and I dedicate this to all my family of doctors and all the health department staff and other corona warriors," he said and thanked district health officer Dr Venkatesh and health commissioner Dr Pankaj Kumar Pandey for their support and motivation.