CORONAVIRUS

“I’M FRIGHTENED”: Hospital consultant opens up about his fears

By Paul Harris

A hospital consultant has spoken of his fears for himself, his family and society as a whole during the coronavirus pandemic, warning: “No-one is immune.”

Ronnie Davies, of Bury, Greater Manchester, said: When I go to work, there is a palpable sense of dread at not being adequately protected and being at high risk of contracting the disease.”

The 38-year-old married father of two, writing in this week’s Jewish Telegraph, says: “On my way to work on day one of ‘lockdown’, I was aghast at the number of people out and about, congregating in parks, playgrounds and shops.

“I drove past Broughton Park, a focus of our large Jewish community, to see people gathering in the streets.

“Car dealerships were open for business. Lockdown was not happening.”

Mr Davies, an orthopaedic surgeon at Manchester Royal Infirmary, said that in hospitals, protective equipment was being rationed.

“There is not enough to keep doctors, nurses and other hospital workers safe,” he went on.

“Still, we turn up daily to work, taking excessive risk, unprotected, to look after anyone who falls ill.

“I am frightened for me because when doctors get coronavirus, they get a more severe form of the illness due to their increased exposure.”

He added that friends and colleagues who were off work feeling very unwell said that this was the worst illness they had ever experienced.

Mr Davies warned: “Nobody wants it to come to rationing care.

“It is the hardest thing for me, as a doctor, to tell somebody that they cannot be given a chance of life due to the lack of intensive care beds.

“If (when) hospitals are swamped, they have guidelines in place on who should and who should not qualify for an intensive care bed.

“No doctor wants to have that conversation. No patient or family member wants that conversation. This could affect my family or your family. “

He described as “unbelievable” the fact that protective equipment was being stolen from his hospital.

“Doctors are getting mugged for their ID badges in London to gain access to hospital areas,” he said. “People are recklessly ignoring the lockdown. Please do not be selfish. Stay in.”

Of 40,000 cases of coronavrirus in Spain, 5,000 are doctors.

Mr Davies said that every time a patient coughed, doctors were suspicious.

“We can’t tell because there is inadequate testing.” he said. “The kits run out in the morning,”

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