Since June 30, around 1,800 Covid survivors have been recruited by the state government
Calcutta:
In Bengal, a group of COVID-19 survivors joined doctors and nurses at public hospitals to help treat those still infected with the virus.
Many of them are migrant workers who worked either in the tile factories in Gujarat, or in the construction industry in Chennai, or in hotels in Bengaluru. Now they’ve found a new call – to provide non-medical help to patients stuck in COVID-19 ICUs.
The Bengal government gives them a stipend and they have become new family members for the patients.
At the busy COVID-19 CCU of ID Beleghata Hospital, Bengal’s main state institute for infectious diseases, two of these Covid survivors are working hard.
Khudhu Sheikh, 24, and Rajib Sheikh, 27, are proud members of the Covid Warriors Club set up by the state government.
“We take care of ventilated patients at the CCU. Some cannot eat on their own, they cannot sit down. We help them. And they bless us all the time, ”says Khudhu Sheikh.
“If everyone is afraid … the doctors and nurses … then who is going to treat the patients. We are not at all afraid,” added Rajib Sheikh.
They were masons, tile makers, and hotel workers in their past lives. Today, with the grim reality of the coronavirus pandemic all around, and as virus survivors, they have rediscovered themselves.
As of June 30, around 1,800 Covid survivors have been recruited by the state government, given a crash course by experts in basic patient care and deployed statewide – 60 of them are working in Calcutta and 160 others in different districts.
When asked if non-medical personnel can be allowed into Covid’s wards, Dr Jogiraj Ray, the CCU in charge of the hospital, replied: “Why not?”
“Why not inside the room? What rocket science work are we doing? So these people have time to talk to the patients who are on oxygen, say for seven to 15 days. They are like family right now. “, did he declare.
Indeed, for Covid patients in ICUs who cannot see or speak to their families, Covid Warriors are a lifeline.
And doctors and nurses say they’re giving patients the one thing they need most: psychological support to deal with the Covid infection and the fear and isolation that comes with it.
