K.H.M.H. Doctors & Nurses Out Sick with COVID-19

COVID-19 is non-discriminatory and even healthcare professionals, who have been working around the clock to save those who end up being hospitalised, have fallen victim.  We’ve reported on the toll that the disease has had on the mental health of the staff, but there are also a number of doctors and nurses at the national referral hospital that are out sick due to COVID-19. So, how is the K.H.M.H. coping when its own employees are out sick?

Dr. Andre Sosa

Dr. Andre Sosa, Chairman, K.H.M.H.A.

“Today, we have about eight or nine of our doctors out sick and perhaps about the same number of nurses who are out sick with COVID-19. So it is a fluid situation, we try to adapt, we try to do the best we can to protect our staff. I think omicron is probably here, although I can’t say that for certain. What is true though is that it has moved at blazing speed. We were in the process of trying to give our staff some rest – vacations were long overdue – and we are trying to prepare for this fourth wave which has come like a tsunami. When there are less people to give the service, frustration increases so we tell our colleagues, our healthcare workers safety first – protect yourself, don’t rush into any situation without first having taken the necessary precautions and that those precautions must extend to beyond your workplace. And that’s as much as you can do. It is unfortunate, but there are instances where people have become disgruntled and have become aggressive with our healthcare workers – and sometimes the very people that you would expect to behave appropriately. I just want to remind viewers and the public in general that we have to look at the safety of our healthcare workers because if there are no healthcare workers to provide the service, then who will paddle this dory?”