"My local BMC doctor has been god-sent,” says 62-year-old Sundar Nagari resident and retired peon Mahadev Gaikwad whose family physician shut shop and stayed put at home since the lockdown began. Mahadev has a blood pressure issue and needs to be examined regularly.
“If it were not for Dr Arulekar, I wouldn’t be able to get my blood pressure checked and take the prerequisite care associated,” says the slum-dweller. Dr Sharad Arulekar, who lives at New Bombay and handles the Colaba Market municipal dispensary, travelled the distance by BEST bus first and now by train, working throughout the lockdown starting 25 March 2020 till date, without a single day’s leave. His never-say-die attitude, exemplifies the spirit of selfless doctors – fighting COVID-19 fearlessly like only they could.
“On one lockdown night at about 9 pm, a woman in her late 40s rushed into the clinic with a profusely-bleeding lip and bruises. She had met with a road accident and, in the absence of any other medical facility available; she came to mine,” recalls Dental Surgeon Dr Pranay Pardeshi, who worked throughout the lockdown.
Dr Pranay Pardeshi with Dr Pranita Pardeshi |
"I sutured the laceration on her lip, performed the dressing of the multiple bruises, administered a tetanus injection and gave her antibiotics." The lady, in great pain, would have suffered further if the stitches weren't done on time.
In the lockdown, with most options limited, the smallest of issues could swiftly snowball into a serious predicament. “Like for the Railway Colony couple in their late fifties who couldn’t eat properly because their dental bridges had come off during the lockdown and approached me,” says dentist sister Dr Pranita Pardeshi. “Because of their inability to eat properly, they had developed severe acidity and were suffering. Once attended to, they were immediately relieved,” she said.
ENT Surgeon, Dr Rajesh Valand travels daily from home in Goregaon to work at Andheri. During the first fortnight after the lockdown, he would attend only to emergency cases, while postponing regular appointments.
“In May, a 52-year-old man from Andheri walked in with a bleeding nose. A tumour in the nose had suddenly burst and started bleeding profusely,” recalls Dr Valand.
“On reaching the hospital, the patient threw up blood and collapsed. He had lost a lot of blood and was showing no pulse. After being rushed to the casualty, he was revived and admitted to hospital,” he says. “After a COVID-19 test was conducted and the result came negative, he was operated upon and the tumour removed through endoscopy, all during the lockdown,” recalls Dr Valand. The surgery couldn’t have waited till the lockdown ends. A few days later, the patient’s nose was clear and he was breathing freely.
At one time, the parents of a three-year-old girl rushed in with her for treatment. She had pushed a bead up her nostril while playing, a common occurrence in children, and was in extreme discomfort and pain. “Had the bead travelled to her trachea, she could have even died,” recalls Dr Valand who treated her in time and removed the obstruction.
"Everyone, including me, was apprehensive and anxious while stepping out of the house during the lockdown. But, when it comes to treatment during emergency, the sentiment of duty takes over," says Dr Valand.
In the first week of April, soon after the lockdown was imposed, the police while forcibly shutting down a shop at Mira Road hit a 23-year-old worker with a lathi.
Hurt on the eye, the boy developed intense trauma and began to lose vision. Struggling with depleting vision issues, he managed to reach Ophthalmic Surgeon Dr Shaila Patel who found "he could hardly identify and count fingers even at a close distance."
“After ruling out retinal detachment in time, well within the window of treatment, the boy was diagnosed with vitreous hemorrhage with anterior chamber reaction and treated with medicines. His vision improved in the next couple of weeks too,” recalls Dr Patel, who has a clinic at Mira Road.
Her clinic, incidentally, was open throughout the lockdown where she would attend to emergency cases by prior appointment. Why, Kandivali-based Dr Shaila Patel had to attend to an emergency on the very second day of the lockdown when she had to perform cornea transplant of an 83-year-old man from Nalasopara who had a perforated corneal ulcer.
Dr Shaila Patel |
“The patient, a retired driver, had come with his son complaining of defective vision, pain and redness in the right eye. Had he not been treated on time, the infection could have spread in the eye and he could have lost the eye,” she says.
"He had come two weeks before the lockdown and was advised surgery that he could not undertake owing to financial issues. When his condition worsened, I arranged for a cornea urgently and performed the transplant at Manav Kalyan Seva Kendra, Dahisar," adds the surgeon.
Among the thousands of doctors working throughout the lockdown was Andheri’s BSES Hospital’s Critical Care Medicine In-charge Dr Javedan Motlekar.
Dr Javedan Motlekar |
Reaching the hospital from her Kandivali residence daily at 9 am, Dr Motlekar had “no fixed time” to reach home. "On a few occasions, in the beginning, we worked for 48 hours at a stretch to ensure COVID patients were sent to a COVID hospital. We had to arrange for beds there, not easily available. Why, even getting an ambulance then was a difficult task."
"Every day was a new challenge. With the cases increasing swiftly, we just had to convert our hospital into a COVID facility from 23 May,” she says, recalling the ordeal.
The fear synonymous with COVID-19 spread with three doctors each from the ICU and the ward at BSES Hospital testing positive. “They are all doing well now and recovering too,” says a pleased Dr Motlekar. “Earlier, we would have to turn away emergency COVID patients but now we take them if we have beds available,” adds the doctor, ready like her lot to take on COVID-19 by the horns.
