PUTRAJAYA – In her five years of service as an assistant medical officer in the government healthcare sector, Ashidah Abdul Rahman has never encountered as much heartache and mental anguish as she did since being placed on ambulance duty to pick up and send COVID-19 patients to the quarantine centre or hospital.
One particular sight that will remain etched in her memory was that of a couple, both aged 60, who had tested positive for COVID-19 and wished to be quarantined in the same place – the low-risk COVID-19 quarantine and treatment centre at the Malaysian Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) in Selangor.
However, said Ashidah, the wife could not be in MAEPS with her husband as her condition was not stable and her oxygen level was low.
“It was a heartbreaking sight as the woman was very sad she could not be with her husband. Before I could help her into the ambulance (to take her to the hospital), she cried and hugged her husband and even asked for his forgiveness… it was as if she knew she was going to leave him forever,” said Ashidah, 29, who is attached to the Bandar Tun Razak Health Clinic in Kuala Lumpur.
She said a few days later she called one of the couple’s children to find out how they were and was shocked to hear the woman had succumbed to the deadly disease.
“Who would have known that was their last farewell and hug? Apparently, the woman died one day after she was admitted to the hospital’s emergency ward,” the mother-of-three told Bernama.
Although she met the woman only briefly, Ashidah said she felt devastated as she had comforted the makcik (auntie) during the ambulance ride and kept assuring her that she would recover soon and be with her husband again.
Like family
This is just one of the many heart-rending scenes healthcare frontliners have to witness practically every day as they work tirelessly and sacrifice their time and energy to save the lives of COVID-19 patients.
Besides managing and treating the patients, the frontliners are also the ones who are beside an individual right from the time he or she tests positive for COVID-19 and has to be taken to either a low-risk quarantine centre or hospital. This is because family members are not allowed to accompany the patient.
And, this is when the frontliners’ compassionate side kicks in and they do their best to serve as a “temporary” family member who can alleviate their distress by offering them a few words of comfort and hope.
In fact, many of the healthcare staff grow so close to their patients that it saddens them when one of them succumbs to COVID-19.
Relating her experience of picking up COVID-19 positive individuals from their homes, Ashidah said: “It’s not easy for us because we not only have to help the patient to control his/her emotions but also have to comfort the children who can only watch helplessly as we take their father or mother away in our ambulance to a quarantine centre or hospital.
“We know the children are pinning all their hopes on us to provide the best treatment and care and also be a temporary family member to their father or mother.”
Go the extra mile
Ambulance driver Muhammad Syahril Md Nazri, 33, also goes the extra mile to ensure the comfort of the COVID-19 patients he has to ferry to the quarantine centre or hospital.
“My duty is not just to drive the ambulance… I also help to carry the patient if the person is elderly and cannot walk, particularly those living in high-rise buildings.
“There was this case of an 80-year-old woman who lived on one of the upper floors of a building and couldn’t walk… I helped the healthcare workers to carry her all the way down. It was not easy and we had to use all our strength but we couldn’t ask for help from others because they were not wearing PPE (personal protective equipment),” he said.
With new COVID-19 cases still hovering around 5,000 to 6,000 daily, healthcare workers tasked with transporting patients to quarantine centres and hospitals have their hands full. The long hours at work can be physically and mentally taxing for them but they choose to discard the negativity and focus on discharging their duties properly.
It has been a tiring affair for Muhammad Syahril too and he recalls an occasion when he had to slap his face to keep himself alert while driving his ambulance at 2 am.
“I was really tired that day. Daily, we’ve to drive over 400 kilometres a day ferrying COVID-19 positive patients… this shows how critical the situation is (in our country),” he said, adding that as an ambulance driver he not only has to drive carefully but also has to try to reach the destination as fast as possible.
“I still remember transporting a COVID-19 patient who seemed alright initially but suddenly the person’s blood pressure readings plummeted. I had to drive as fast as I could as the patient was elderly and in the high-risk group.”
Much has been reported in the media of the sacrifices by the nation’s healthcare frontliners. Many of them have not been able to see their loved ones for months. They are not able to get enough rest. Not only that they are not even able to eat and drink properly as they have to be dressed in PPE all day.
Yet there are people out there who think the COVID-19 virus is a hoax.
“COVID-19 is certainly not fictional. A friend of mine didn’t believe that COVID-19 was real but he ended up getting infected and it was me who drove him to the hospital as he had difficulty breathing. After he recovered, his wife and children became infected,” he said, adding that he regretted the attitude of people who took their children to public places when cases involving children were rising day by day.
