Warriors on
the frontline
Medical workers are always at risk, but they conquer the fears to take care of the patients. Even doctors and nurses who contracted the virus return to work soon after quarantine
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Reem Yousef with nine-month-old Relle
Working on the frontlines in the face of an invisible virus, doctors and nurses were probably at the highest risk of contracting COVID-19. Reem Yousef, who worked as an emergency nurse manager at the Emirates Specialty Hospital in Dubai, who was still breastfeeding her nine-month-old baby, said: “It is really hard. I am literally wearing my heart on my sleeve for my little one, Relle. Yes, there is fear of contracting COVID-19 as we work 12-15 hours a day for five days. We try our best to manage. When I go back home, I take utmost care to completely sterilise myself before I hold my baby in my arms again.”
Despite the best efforts though, the tables did turn sometimes. And when that happened, the resolve to combat coronavirus only got stronger.
As a doctor duo at Zulekha Hospital Dubai, Dr Nishath Ahmed Liyakat and Dr Unni Nair, who recovered from COVID-19 testified, there was no way the virus would have held them back from doing their duty once they had received the treatment and completed their quarantine.