COVID affects mental health of nurses
Arnab Halder, a nursing assistant at the hospital, is mainly responsible for administering oxygen to patients in the COVID ward and assisting doctors and nurses with stitches following a surgery.
“When I joined this hospital in 2019, I used to weep when I saw blood. After this second wave of COVID infections, I don’t feel anything when I see a dead body. I’ve gotten used to it,” he said.
Halder pointed out that the rural hospital has a five-bed isolation facility for COVID patients, but when cases become critical, patients are referred to a larger government hospital. He added that the hospital could save many lives because it procured oxygen from a local gurdwara, instead of relying on other channels.
“We had as many as 20 COVID cases a day in April, and this trend lasted till the first week of May. Now, we have 3-4 cases a day,” Halder said.
The pandemic has left a deep impact on Halder’s mental health. He is scared of contracting…