Hassan Al-Masry - Cairo
"I do not want to visit my mother, as I feel that I have become a source of the epidemic." With these harsh words, the Egyptian doctor Ehab speaks, describing his psychological state, which has reached the level of obsessiveness from the transmission of the Corona virus to him, where he works as a doctor for intensive care and anesthesia in a government hospital, which makes him in daily contact with emergencies. Infected with the virus.
He tells Al-Jazeera Net that he does not fear death as much as his fear for his children and family, for fear of transmission to him and then transmitted to them, adding that it is "a difficult and very frustrating feeling when you know that a colleague left his home in order to treat people but he only returned to him as a dead body."
He explains that there is an "army" of doctors, nursing staff and health workers working on the front front to combat the spread of the virus, where they work for long periods of up to 12 hours per day, and some of them spend continuous days in isolation hospitals for infected cases.
While noting the difficult conditions that the health sector suffers from in Egypt, the doctor also notes the great deficiency even in the simplest safety methods that doctors need, such as masks and gloves, as well as some medications.
Ehab explained (he preferred not to give his full name) that his work in intensive care and emergency is less safe compared to work in isolation hospitals, because the latter includes certain cases, preventive measures are taken before dealing with them, while intensive care is provided to patients who are not known whether they are infected With the virus or not.
On Wednesday evening, the Ministry of Health announced that the number of people infected with Coronavirus in the country had risen to 779, including 179 recovered cases and 52 deaths.
Isolation hospitals
And the matter differs a lot in isolation hospitals from other hospitals, where doctors spend their days on days treating and observing those infected with the virus, despite the lack of capabilities and medical supplies.
With great pride, Dr. Hussam Fathi, an orthopedist at Esna Hospital in Luxor Governorate, talks about the story of the hospital, which managed to deal with 76 cases of corona from the Italian tourists, where about 60% of the cases were cured, which is considered an achievement by the hospital's medical team, in light of the weak capabilities. Some of them are elderly.
Fathi recounted on the communication sites how to spend his day in the hospital, and he said that there is complete isolation from the outside world, except for phones and communication sites to check on friends and family, and this is until the end of the shift, which continues in days, indicating that he continued 14 days away from home during one of his shifts .
"The interconnectedness and communication between doctors, and communication with citizens through social media, is the straw that we attach to in order to control the situation. Psychological support is the secret of success."
The Ministry of Health has allocated 28 isolation hospitals, of which only eight have been used so far, according to television statements by Professor Hossam Hosni, head of the scientific committee to combat the Corona virus at the ministry.
For its part, the Ministry of Higher Education equipped 113 hospitals and 33 thousand beds with training of medical teams to deal with cases of the new virus, also reduced the reception of non-emergency cases in university hospitals by 70%, and the number of visitors to outpatient clinics by 50%.
Support myself and financially
To face some pressure, many doctors recently resorted to launching campaigns through the communication sites to seek support from citizens, which received great support and support, such as the "Your Photo in the Salon" campaign, where many doctors and nurses displayed their pictures inside hospitals, asking citizens to stay in homes to control the virus , And confirming that it is the largest support for doctors now.
This comes in light of the government's announcement of a 75% increase in the medical profession allowance, including doctors working in university hospitals, at a total cost of about 2.25 billion pounds, and the creation of a risk fund for medical professionals.
Doctors receive a monthly amount of about seven hundred pounds (one dollar equals 16 pounds) instead of medical professions, and it is scheduled to increase by about five hundred pounds, and the share of nurses is about 450 pounds, and three hundred pounds are expected to be added to it. As for dentists, pharmacists, veterinarians and physiotherapists at five hundred fairy. After the increase announced by the president a few days ago, the allowance will be 875 pounds.
Meanwhile, ambulance workers expressed their anger at not being included in the decision, demanding that they receive the allowance as part of the medical team.