As the fight against Covid-19 will be a long-drawn one, TODAY’s Voices section hopes to shine a light on the triumphs and struggles of Singapore’s front-line workers by publishing their first-hand accounts.

In this instalment of Voices from the Front Lines, Dr Tan Rou An from Ng Teng Fong General Hospital reflects on all the emotions and changes that healthcare workers have had to grapple with during the pandemic.

JUNE 26 — In just four months, it is quite unbelievable that we have gone from being anxious and fearful to being efficient and thankful.

When news of a new coronavirus sweeping through China started emerging, the dark spectre of infected and dying healthcare workers during Singapore’s 2003 battle with the severe acute respiratory syndrome loomed large.

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As overseas healthcare systems buckled, the intensive care unit (ICU) community extrapolated the figures to our population and braced ourselves for a massive wave of admissions.

Recalling “super-spreader” incidents overseas, many of us sent our children, spouses and parents to stay with other relatives. We showered and changed out of scrubs before heading home, and refrained from hugging and kissing our loved ones, fearing we might inadvertently pass this terrible disease on to them.

Every fever or body ache triggered a wave of fear of catching the virus, and also the realisation that we would leave our colleagues working even harder without us.

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As the numbers of infected patients increased, wards were emptied, restructured and reopened as isolation facilities with strict infection precautions in a matter of hours to days.

Our emergency department had to be reconfigured on an almost-daily basis to deal with the surge of feverish patients needing extensive isolation.

Those of us fluent in Bengali, Thai, Hindi, Malay and Chinese produced information sheets and videos for our patients more comfortable in those languages.

Colleagues from other departments volunteered for ICU duty, even though they would be exposed to a high-risk environment.

Life soon changed for all of us.

Donning, doffing, and cross-checking our “space suit” protective gear is now second nature to us.

When once we used to open the door to a patient’s room and shout for a drug or an extra pair of gloves, we have become experts at deciphering each other’s scrawls and interpreting elaborate pantomimes through the glass windows.

The task of transporting our sickest Covid-19 patients with full precautions is now plain sailing, with security guards closing corridors and directing human traffic around our beeping and whirring machines with practised ease.A worker sanitising and disinfecting seats. — Picture via Ng Teng Fong General Hospital/TODAY
A worker sanitising and disinfecting seats. — Picture via Ng Teng Fong General Hospital/TODAY

These few months have reminded me that we cannot function without the porters who deliver blood, medications and swabs at all hours of the day and night.

We would be nowhere without our cleaners who unfailingly clear the mounds of biohazardous waste and speedily clean our rooms so we can maximise the use of our ICU beds.

We would not be able to provide the meticulous care we give to our patients without the ceaseless efforts of our experienced nurses and therapists.

I am proud to see our secretarial employees stepping forward to become staff members for dormitory operations.

I am honoured to work alongside old friends from medical school who have taken very different paths but have stepped forward in these strange times to render help, knowing the risk that it entails.

I am thankful for my friends and colleagues in primary care and those working in the community isolation facilities for helping us to keep the acute hospitals free to care for the most unstable patients.

Above all, I think all of us taking care of the sickest of the sick are extremely grateful for the sacrifices that the community has made to stay home and curtail the spread of Covid-19. You are our true frontliners. — TODAY

About the writer:

Dr Tan Rou An, 34, is an associate consultant in the intensive care medicine unit of Ng Teng Fong General Hospital