Dilemma of front line warriors fighting COVID-19

GAZIANTEP, Turkey

Tutku Tanrikulu Tek, a Turkish emergency medicine doctor, continues to be a hope for COVID-19 patients despite her fears that she may carry coronavirus home where a three-year-old son awaits her.

Tek is among thousands of doctors trying to save the lives of COVID-19 patients despite many troubles and psychological pressures they face.

Working at Gaziantep University’s Sahinbey Research and Application Hospital, Tek shared an emotional moment she experienced during the pandemic with Anadolu Agency.

Tek said around three months ago, she treated a 62-year-old patient who tested positive for COVID-19. Though he did not have any significant disorder, the patient started to suffer respiratory distress within 15 minutes.

She said she spoke over phone to the patient’s daughter who is also a doctor working in the capital Ankara. But, she could not save her colleague's father despite all the necessary treatment.

“His condition wasn’t bad. He told me about his complaints well,” Tek said, adding the patient was intubated after respiratory problem. “But he died after an hour,” she recalled.

Tek said she was touched by the answer of her colleague when she told her that she will look after him well as “he could be my father, too”. “May Allah forbid, protect your father,” Tek quoted the patient’s daughter as saying.

“She tried to protect me even in that situation, because this is the nature of our job,” Tek said.

'Psychological war'

Emphasizing that all healthcare professionals play an active role in saving people's lives, Tek pointed out preventing contamination in the fight against the pandemic is a kind of life-saving measure.

“I’m working at the pandemic polyclinic for the last six months. I have a three-year-old son,” she said, adding that she returns home every evening with the fear of transmitting the virus to her family.

“But in my next shift, I come back with the hope of saving people’s lives,” she said.

“This is really a psychological war for us. We try to both protect our beloved ones, and help people,” Tek stressed.

She called on everyone to comply with the hygiene rules and be careful about not contracting the virus.

Turkey’s health minister Sunday announced more than 1,000 new recoveries from COVID-19, bringing the total to 251,105.

The country has so far reported nearly 280,000 cases. The death toll rose to 6,673 as 53 more people succumbed to the disease over the past day.

*Writing by Sena Guler