The amount of information on COVID-19 floating around us is unfortunately outweighed by the huge volumes of misinformation, thanks to social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook. Although these tech companies have taken steps to help prevent the spread of unverified information, yet the pandemic of ‘Fake Information’ is almost as bad as the COVID-19 pandemic itself.
To enable us to comprehend the pandemic better, The Voices talks to – Dr. Suhail Malhotra, Senior Orthopedic surgeon and a COVID Warrior, serving on the front lines at Shri Guru Nanak Dev Govt. Hospital, Amritsar.
“Use of N95 mask is the primary one amongst all the preventive measures taken, There had never been such easy preventive measures for any deadly disease”, he exclaims, on being asked about an effective counter strategy.
On the question of co-morbidities and their relation to the overall prognosis of the disease, the doctor says, “Only diseases like Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Asthma aren’t co-morbidities. If a person is undernourished, he is a co-morbid too. A young person can die too on being infected by the virus if his immunity and overall health isn’t strong enough to fight back the virus.”
The responsibilities of healthcare personnel have made it extremely difficult for them to strike a balance between their own lives and the lives of their patients. They are struggling to even find adequate time for eating and drinking water owing to the nature of their duty. Added to this is the eminent risk of getting infected by the virus and consequently transmitting the disease to their loved ones.
Humanity is in debt to these selfless Warriors who have been fighting an invisible, rapidly multiplying and extremely dangerous enemy.
Edited by: Raghujit S. Randhawa