by Dr. Edmund Villaroman
Our passion to help is the only thing that gets us to wake up early each and every day and leave behind our families. Some struggle to get to work with the limited transportation, or others even pedal their bicycles for miles just to get to the hospital. We don our PPEs, endure the discomfort for hours, oftentimes missing meals, and with limited restroom breaks, just to give the best care to our COVID-19 patients. This same passion drives us to continue serving despite being overwhelmed by the sheer number of COVID-19 cases.
A lot of us have been infected in the line of duty and some have fallen severely ill and sacrificed their lives in the name of professional service and dedication to our patients. We comfort our patients because their families are not allowed inside the COVID-19 wards. We are the closest to being family at their bedside. Patients die in front of us everyday and we shed tears for each one of them.
Most of us go home fearing we are infected ourselves, and worse that our own family might contract the virus from us. Many sacrifice not seeing their families for a long time and opt to stay in the discomfort of temporary shelters to prevent community transmission.
We lack the proper PPEs to protect ourselves. We lack the proper medicines to treat our patients. We lack proper testing and tracing of our COVID-19 patients and their relatives. We lack the proper critical care beds to admit our distressed patients. We lack the mechanical ventilators for our patients who can barely breathe.
What we lack most is a leader who knows how to navigate nation in these desperate times. We need someone who understands and accepts the gravity of the pandemic and lays down a road map from a healthcare and economic perspective. People are suffering and dying everyday. Waiting for a vaccine isn’t a plan but a hope and a prayer. We need a concrete, comprehensive and compassionate plan to include the different stakeholders of our society.
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