Live to fight another day

Warangal: Will never forget the misery inflicted by coronavirus, said Shankar (name changed), who managed to escape from the clutches of the pandemic that has been wreaking unprecedented havoc in its second summer.

Shankar felt despairing when he was found to have tested positive for Covid-19. Initially, he was dumbstruck when the RTPCR test result showed that he had contracted the novel coronavirus. "In fact, I never missed wearing a mask whenever I ventured out. Tried my best to avoid others touching me physically, however, the inevitable had happened.

Around the buzz that the MGMH hasn't had the best of facilities especially due to lack of infrastructure, I walked into it. "I told myself not to anticipate anything extraordinary at the exclusive Covid-19 ward in the MGMH. I was told by a friend who is well-versed with medical knowledge that there was nothing that separates MGMH from a private hospital as far as treatment is concerned," Shankar said.

True to my friend's words, the medical team at the MGMH is one of the best in treating the coronavirus and kudos to them, he said. Further he adds that never before in the past few decades we have such a situation like the gauntlet thrown down by the Covid-19. The lack of infrastructure at the hospitals is understandable, but having said that I feel that the government would have envisioned the premonitions of the pandemic, Shankar said.

It wasn't a pleasant stay at the hospital, but endurance was the need of the hour. The staff which has been working almost round-the-clock was unresponsive and insensitive at times. I know working in such conditions itself is a huge task. This apart, I endured loneliness making a vain effort to see the outside world through the window, Shankar said, dwelling on how he tackled the nightmarish fortnight in a hospital far from projecting an inspiring incite.

Shankar says, "This is life that one has to go through a trauma with a lot of courage and perseverance, psyching them up with gumption that 'live to fight another day'.