Since the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak hit Malaysia, there has been a surge in the number of confirmed cases in our country on a daily basis. As of today (March 21), Malaysia records a total of 1183 Covid-19 cases, making it the country with the fourth highest number of Covid-19 cases in Asia.
With the rising number of cases every day, the government hospital has been struggling to handle the high influx of patients pouring in. As a result, even the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has warned that our government hospitals would be overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients if we still don’t take it seriously.
Yet, a lot of stubborn Malaysians are still unwilling to cooperate with the authorities' preventive measures, making things even harder for the already exhausted medical staff.
According to The Star, many patients who went to undergo the COVID-19 test refuse to wait at the designated space for screening even though they show symptoms of being infected. There are also people who tried to get away from the screening and those who are totally opposite: “lied” so they can be tested. Some even keep the fact that they attended mass gatherings to themselves before getting examined, leading to the possible infection of the attending doctors and nurses.
Chinapress, on March 20, reported that the Director-General of Health Ministry, Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham said, a total of 15 medical workers are infected with Covid-19 with 1 in Intensive Care Unit (ICU). 12 of them are from government hospitals, while the other 3 are from the private sector.
We should know that our medical frontliners are humans too. They, too, are scared to be infected. They, too, have families who are worried about their safety. And they, too, will be worried whether they would ‘bring’ the virus back home to their beloved family members.
“Every day before I leave home for work, I give them (family) a hug, as I don’t know if I will be isolated after I had close contact with a positive patient today,” a female doctor from Miri told Sinchew.
We believe that like her, other frontliners in this battle share the same concern.
A netizen named Eyda Sukiman took to social media to reveal how his neighbor who is a policeman has to sleep in a tent outside his house to protect his family. Eyda added that the neighbor even takes a bath and eats outside the house. He does this as he needs to be on duty every day — especially during the Movement Control Order period—and wants to minimize contact with his family, in case he contracts the virus while working.
After all the sacrifices these people have done for the sake of other Malaysians, many who are lucky enough to be allowed to stay home comfortably can still be seen lurking around like they are immune to the virus. Worse still, they don’t seem to care that their ignorance and insensibility could burden the frontliners more.
Let’s not be the one who makes it difficult for those who risk their lives so ours would be minimally affected. Stay home, stay safe, and don’t forget to thank all the frontliners.
#Thankyoufrontliners
