Doctor At Work

 Niranjan had just come back from London. He had completed his PhD. in Epidemiology. Even as he drove home with his mother from the airport, she braced the topic of his marriage. According to the traditional conventions, the parents fixed up their children’s marriage, and they accepted the partners selected by the parents without demur. The girl of Nandita’s choice would be the perfect match for Niranjan. She was cultured, qualified, and had a sweet disposition. The reason why Nandita wanted her son to marry Sheila, was that both her parents had died in a car accident, and she did not have any siblings to call her own. Her heart reached out to Sheila and she looked forward to the day she would make her part of her family.

Niranjan, her son was appointed the head of the Epidemiology Department. Unfortunately, it was at this time that Covid-19 Virus broke loose and the hospital started getting patients in a relentless stream. They were like a river in floods when there is no way of containing or controlling the swelling waters. Nandita felt it was very risky for her son to be attending to patients, down with the Virus, which was not only contagious but devoured its victims after mercilessly marauding them. On the other hand, she could not tell him to stay away, as it was his duty as a doctor. But every day she prayed fervently to God to keep him safe. She felt it would be devastating if Niranjan contracted the disease, as her son and Sheila had got married just three months back. As it happened, there was not a soul in her own family for Sheila, and if anything should happen to Niranjan, the newly married bride would not be able to deal with the catastrophe.

The good news was in the offing. There was going to be a new member of the family. Nandita was excited and started making preparations. But what was always bothering her was if Niranjan contracted the contagious disease, Sheila was sure to get it. He might also become a carrier and the expectant mother might get infected with Covid-19. What would be the effect on the unborn baby? She felt angry and frustrated that a vaccine was taking so long to come into the market.

Every day Niranjan would come home with stories of the suffering of the patients; and their lonely battle with death.

 There was the sad episode of a teen-ager. Rakesh must have been just seventeen years old. He was studying for his Class 12 examinations. One afternoon he was admitted, as a critical case. He had been complaining of fever and headache. The doctors had suspected Malaria and then Meningitis. He had been admitted to two different hospitals but had to be finally referred to Beliaghata Infectious Disease Hospital where they diagnosed him with Covid -19. But it was too late. The case had become critical. He complained of a splitting headache. Slowly he started having convulsions. He developed breathing difficulty and a high fever. He spoke unintelligibly, garbled, and then stopped communicating, and lay unresponsive to the outside world. When he raved in delirium, he spoke of his future career, his dreams, and the masked villains who were dragging him away from his sun-lit destiny. Gradually life was drained out from the promising young boy. Niranjan did his utmost to save him. Though for forty-eight hours continuously he battled with the Virus, even with all the newly researched medicines, he failed to give life back to the boy.

 Niranjan’s wife would wait all day and night, waiting for her husband to come back from the hospital. In the end, she would turn off the lights, and go to sleep without having her dinner. When Niranjan came home, red-eyed, not having slept for three days, he would go off to sleep, as soon as he sat down on the sofa. Sheila understood her husband’s commitments and did not make things difficult for him. When life was lost, which happened daily, it would leave her husband in the depths of depression, together with the accompanying regrets, but she could empathize and tried her best to soothe and comfort him.

On another occasion, a patient was admitted by the name of Ibrahim Rahman. He had been brought in very late. He had been diagnosed to have suffered a heart attack and had been admitted to the Cardiology Department in a Government Hospital. After five days they found out what the problem was. Because of Covid-19 which he had contracted, there were clots in his blood that had traveled to his brain and caused the Stroke-like symptoms. He had fallen on the floor in the toilet from where he was picked up after one –and- a- half hours. When the patient was admitted, he had become partially paralyzed. Off and on he was getting tremors. He was not from a well-to-do family. He could not afford to pay for his EEG and neither the prescribed medicines for the treatment. Niranjan knew that immediate treatment was mandatory. He took upon himself to pay the medical bill, otherwise, another life would be lost. He had had a glimpse of his young wife and two small children when they had come to the outer gate of the hospital. He could visualize their condition if he did not survive. His organs had started failing. Both his kidneys had got affected. Dialysis had to be done. As the patient did not have the means to pay for his treatment, Niranjan did not have the heart to see him die in front of his eyes. After a period of fifteen days, Rahman was able to go home to his wife and children. As a token of gratitude Rahman’s wife cooked a sweet dessert made from milk and ‘Savaii’ which Niranjan took home for his mother, and wife, who relished the Delicacy and thanked The Almighty that Rahman had recovered.

   There was also the case of the little boy, who was brought in with a high temperature. It was difficult to keep him quiet. He cried his heart out and the Sisters could not pacify him. But Niranjan had the knack to win over children easily. He soothed the boy with his charming bed-side manners, and soon his small patient became a close ally. The parents had been very solicitous about their only child who was just three years old, whom they had left at the gate of the hospital, wailing and screaming. The child left the hospital after four days. For him, the hospital was a place to be feared, where only the wicked were sent to be punished. He was paranoid of hospitals. But now he had lost that fear, and surprisingly the Doctor had become his dear friend, whom he had come to love.

But as luck would have it, the Doctor’s newly wedded wife contracted the dreaded virus. Niranjan had become a Carrier and after two days, his mother too complained of fever, and a running nose. Both of them tested Covid-19 +. His Mother’s condition deteriorated rapidly. She had to be admitted to the same hospital where he was working. She lost consciousness and there was a multi-organ failure. She was put on the Ventilator, and dialysis had to be done as both the kidneys had started to fail. Niranjan looked on silently, his grief mounting with every passing minute, as he could surmise the inevitable. He felt guilty that he had been the cause of his Mother’s suffering. Her condition had aggravated to such an extent, that she had become restless, like a fish out of water. She had to be sedated to lessen her distress. The last resort was Plasma Therapy which had not been tried on her till then. Niranjan prayed silently all day so that his mother would respond to the treatment. Niranjan stood by her bed waiting for her to open her eyes. It was a moment which he would never forget in his life when his mother indeed looked at him and smiled. He nearly forgot himself and like a child was about to shout out, ‘Ma’! It was a joyous day when he could take his mother home.

There was still a big dark cloud looming in front of him. His wife was still in the hospital being treated for Covid-19. Her symptoms did not augur well. Though her fever had subsided and she did not complain of wheezing anymore, but she was in agony. It seemed she was coming in with a miscarriage, and she was very upset about it. It would be their first child, and so it was very special.

Niranjan was equally devastated. Though he was able to take his wife home, she never forgave him. She blamed him for bringing the Virus home. He lost her love and the unborn child. It had such a detrimental effect on him, that the foreign qualified doctor was on the verge of giving up his profession, for he cared for his wife intensely, and it nearly drove him raving mad to be treated by her with indifference and cold aloofness.

It was six months after Sheila had contracted Covid -19, that she felt movements in her abdomen. First, she was puzzled, but she hoped against hope. She visited the Gynecologist who confirmed her suspicion. She had not lost her baby after all. It was a happy day when Niranjan and Sheila held their first-born in their arms proudly, for the baby had indeed brought fulfillment to their love.