Dr. Sowrabh Kumar Arora
Associate Director, Surgical Oncology(Head and Neck DMG)
Max Institute of Cancer Care, Vaishali and Patparganj, DELHI NCR

It is remarkable that our junior Doctors are doing wonderful work at this need of the hour situation, when the pandemic has struck us all. They are showing exceptional courage and dedication at this age…..even with all the news of negativity, fear of contracting the virus, apathy from system and society; they are just keeping that away from their mind and continuing their, work day in and day out. When most of the senior staff is not in frontline because of age & comorbidities and other senior colleagues managing things from outside and non COVID work,our loving juniors are doing their job COVID Frontline. When we are busy in the evenings with zoom webinars and family meetings, they know that it will be difficult to talk to the family for even five minutes, leave alone the zoom meeting, after a shift of 8-10 hrs with full PPEs. When I was hearing of few physicians thinking of leaving the profession because of the pandemic, these juniors never talked about leaving their degree. They protested against the incidents of lack of PPEs and disrespect from patients sometime, that is their right. It is very difficult to put in 8-10 hrs of duty everyday in PPEs with utmost care and not only do they have to just manage patients medically but also mentally, consistently maintaining their cool to satisfy the patient’s unreasonable demands. When we all are talking about Governmentpolicies, looking forstatistics of COVID and counting the deaths, they are there to save us. Some may say sarcastically that they are doing this because of compulsion but the fact of the matter is that, they are there in the screening areas and doing duty in COVID wards, while WE ARE NOT. We, the medical fraternity including me, sometimes used to doubt the dedication and attitude of the current generation of medical students and residents, but they are standing there firmly holding the fort. I am really happy to be proven wrong. These juniors are showing great character when they are needed the most. We all saw the pictures and videos of how they were performing their duties in COVID wards in Mumbai with dead body on one bed and patient on another in the same ward. We all have been trained in Government hospitals but never trained to do work in these conditions, but these saviours are adapting themselves sofast at this age. It is not easy and is incomparable. We come across the stories from smaller cities about how they are doing work without adequate PPEs even in hostile environment. It is difficult for them to keep pace with dramatically changing guidelines every 2-3 days. We may be little better prepared this time but India is always largely thriving on individual efforts, dedication and brilliance (not on system); more or less the story is the same.They have inspired me also to start my work in Oncology. Also we should thank thenursing staff who arehelping them at every step.

You are not only role models for us but also for many, in future generations. Your efforts might be forgotten by society as soon as the pandemic is over but medical fraternity will always remember you for your courage, determination and dedication. This is exceptional, extraordinary and difficult to describe in words.

Hats off to you!!