SRINAGAR: As Covid pandemic has disturbed every aspect of life, including social relations in public & private life due its contagious nature and devastation in terms of deaths, many families are grappling with covid infected patients all alone with the fear in hospitals of getting infected. Last year the social stigma that was wrongly attached to the disease and infected individuals has gone away to a large extent.The Government, health care authorities and the media have been working to dispel the myths, rumours and misconceptions in the society about the disease and covid positive patients.The covid patients need compassion, help and good treatment and in this difficult situation health care professional like Nurses have shouldered the responsibility to treat covid positive patients with commitment and affection. It is they who have debunked and dispelled all the negative stories and demonstrated that by following proper safety protocol and SOPs, patients can be treated without any fear.”The role of nurses during the current pandemic is appreciable who are working as frontline warriors to help corona patients and are dealing with them very closely and rendering all assistance to them. There is no reluctance and hesitation among nurses to have physical contact while administering injections, medicine to positive patients. They are executing their job sincerely, effectively and professionally to give hope to hapless patient and attend them round the clock. Nurses are the at the frontline who are first to attend and respond when a covid patient is brought to hospital”, said Haseena Sofi, Assistant Nursing Superintendent, Officer incharge Nursing Administration, SKIMS, Soura, Srinagar.”In some cases families have abandoned covid patients fearing that infection may get to them, but nurses are creating a family atmosphere for a patient and don’t let the patient feel lonely. Patients are our family”, said Ms Haseena Sofi while giving details of the compassionate behaviour of nurses in dealing with admitted ailing persons.Many nurses also succumbed to pandemic across the globe but ‘there is no retreat from discharging professional duty at a time of health emergency and crisis’, Ms Haseena Sofi said. “In fact nurses are risking their lives for patients without hesitation”, she said emotionally.This pandemic has forced every individual to stay indoors while nurses continue to work day and night in hospitals with a purpose to serve patients to help people to emerge out of this gloomy phase. ‘We shall overcome’, She said, ‘from this temporary stage and enter in a new phase of life with return of normalcy.She revealed that SKIMS Administration has increased the capacity of the institute by increasing work force. The nurses staff strength has been augmented in the institute with the addition of 133 nurses to cater to more than 400 covid patients undergoing treatment in the Institute said Assistant Nursing Superintendent.She said that hospitals are like places of worship as you serve humanity, treat dejected and ailing patients giving them hope to survive and meet their near and dear ones .She expressed her gratitude to nurses for their relentless efforts and work and prayed for their safety and good health.”When a patient recovers, nurses feel delighted as the relationship between a patient and nurses is like a family” she said and added that “Patients share the same sentiments towards us”.
