Pune: At the lab daily by 7.30am, she’s back home 16hours later

PUNE: It is duty all the time for Suvarna Joshi, associate professor of microbiology at B J Medical College here. The 52-year-old tests Covid-19 samples for 14 hours a day at the new lab of the college-attached Sassoon hospital. She spends only eight hours at home but manages to find as much time as possible to take take care of her 94-year-old mother-in-law, who has been bed-ridden for 10 years, Joshi wakes at 4.30am, bathes her mother-inlaw, gets ready herself, makes breakfast and reaches the lab by 7.30am.
Joshi says she cooks for the next day the night before.“I reach home around 11.30pm once all the samples are tested and the reports are prepared. On Gudi Padwa, I returned home at 1am as there was a short circuit on the premises and work was hampered. Once power was restored, we started work again but finished at 1am,” she says.
At the laboratory daily by 7.30am, she’s back home 16 hours later
She says, “My mother-inlaw’s ca- retaker has not been able to come home because of the lockdown. So my husband and I take care of her. I do as much of the morning duties as possible and my husband looks after her during the day.”
Since March 19, when the Sassoon hospital’s lab got approval for testing, Joshi and the staff have not taken a single day off from work. The pressure is mounting, she admits.
“During the initial 3-4 days, it was normal work and we would return home by 6pm. Now, it’s always dark outside when I go home,” she says.
With an ailing person at home, Joshi says safety is uppermost as she is directly dealing with the virus. “I don’t even ring the doorbell. As I reach the parking area of my home, I get the security guard to ring the bell. After going in the house, I head straight to the bathroom. I take a bath, wash my clothes in warm water with disinfectant and only then do I move around the house,” she says.
Joshi says she has to be equally careful at the lab to ensure that the reports are absolutely mistake-free. “We have to be extremely alert and attentive while reading the samples, processing them and generating reports. It’s a highly responsible job. But I am happy that I am able to serve society,” she adds.
Joshi has worked on infectious diseases for 25 years and has been in the system since the 1995 plague outbreak, SARS, anthrax, HINI and now the novel coronavirus.