Page 41 - NIH Bulletin Vol 19, January-June 2022, Entering the Endemic Phase: Nurturing Ideas in Healthcare

#ENTERING THE ENDEMIC PHASE

KINDNESS THE ULTIMATE PRESCRIPTION

I vividly remember the time and day. It was 9 pm on 21 ‘I can’t come and kill them for you, you have to do it on your
December 2020. I received a call from my husband in Johor own. Just step on them!’. At first, she refused, but I told her
telling me he tested positive for COVID-19. The next morning, now is the time to live up to her namesake, Lara Croft of
the rest of us went to a clinic in Bangsar to get tested. 24 Tomb Raider. And so she did.
hours later, the doctor called to inform me that my daughter
Lara, tested positive. ‘I stepped on them, but they’re still alive!’, Lara complained.
I blurted ‘Step harder!’. Finally, the mission was accomplished.
Dr. Leong, the ID consultant in HKL was very kind to arrange On some days when she did not answer her phone, my
admission for my daughter to HKL Covid ward. A doctor from husband would call the ward and ask the nurses or doctor
Petaling District Health Office called for contact tracing. She to check on her which they do unreservedly. My friends and
asked if my daughter had any symptoms. The only answer I relatives would call her to cheer her up. A random medical
could get from my daughter was ‘I feel one kind’. So, she was officer bought McDonalds for her, twice! So much kindness
admitted as Category 1 (CAT1). from known and unknown people brought happiness to a
12-year-old staying alone in a Covid ward.
For a teenager who spent the holidays in her room watching
Netflix or playing games online and only venturing out when Finally, on 31 December, she came home. For the next few
hungry, the day that she was supposed to be quarantined in months, there was a noticeable change in her mood and she
her room was also the time I saw her the most outside of was sleeping a lot. When I asked her what was wrong, she
her room! would respond with an ‘I don’t know’ or a vague ‘I feel blah.’
So I just let her be but kept a watchful eye on her.
‘What are you doing out of your room?’ I yelled, to which she
replied ‘I’m bored!’ Long Covid is real. You can be a CAT1 and still suffer from
Long Covid. So, if any of your friends, relatives, or colleagues
The ambulance arrived at 8.30 pm. They reserved a single were diagnosed with COVID-19, be kind. They may appear
room for her. Opposite her room, were three medical officers healthy, but they may not necessarily be fine. Kindness
from Hospital Sungai Buloh. One of them told me not could very well be the ultimate unprescribed treatment that
to worry as they would keep an eye on her until she gets we can offer them.
discharged. Lara was equipped with her phone and my
laptop to keep her company during her stay. Dr Sunita Shanmugam

One night she called me, trembling in fear because there
were small cockroaches in the room.

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