Doctor drives from Balaghat to city, joins Covid-19 duty

Nagpur: Pragya Gharde, a 24-year-old BHMS doctor, drove down 175km from Balaghat on her two-wheeler during the restrictions last week to attend the call of duty at Covid hospitals in Nagpur.
Pragya was working with a hospital in Nagpur, but had returned home to Balaghat during the restrictions. Later, when the Covid situation worsened and Covid patients increased, she started getting call from hospitals, asking her to rejoin.
Getting transport was an issue due to the Covid 19 restrictions, but then she thought if she doesn’t report to duty it would be an injustice to her education. Hence, she decided to travel on her two-wheeler though there was a lot of resistance from her mother, a house wife, and father, who is a teacher. “They were worried due to the Covid situation and lockdown restrictions but then I was able to convince them,” said Pragya.
She adds, “It was difficult as I also had to carry a lot of luggage on the Scooty. I started at around 9am and reached Nagpur at 3pm.”
Pragya is now working for Covid patients at two places, one is Shantiniketan Nursing Home and second at Meditrina Hospital. “At both places, work requires me to interact with patients as I have to monitor their pulse, blood pressure, sugar, saturation level etc. Apart from my BHMS skills, I try to use my other skill that I am acquiring by studying for an MA Psychology from Ignou.”
She has observed that most patients are depressed or afraid during Covid hospitalization. “So I talk to them, try to counsel and motivate them to be positive even as I monitor their parameters,” she says.
“It’s a difficult job to be in PPE kits for 12 hours, as my first job at Shantiniketan is from 8am to 2pm, and from 2pm to 8pm I am at Meditrina. But I am proud to render my service to Covid patients, as the nation is seeing one of the most dangerous times in the pandemic,” she says.