The Curious Case Of Role Reversals

We can't know what will be the After if we don’t fully understand the Now and, let’s admit it, we don’t have a clue and neither do the people who are leading us. ‘Fear and denial’ is what doctors use when treating patients with COVID-19, explains Dr. Shiba Malik, Neurosurgeon, Vivevakanand Hospital in Haldwani. “If we didn’t fear getting sick we would be sitting ducks and wouldn’t protect ourselves, or our loved ones. But without denial we wouldn’t come to the hospital at all.” Doctors are trained to feel infallible in the riskiest of situations — denying and defying the odds of catching contagious diseases even when they are operating on patients with HIV, Hepatitis B, or Tuberculosis. The difference is, with the aforementioned cases, the odds of contagion are, perhaps, 1 in 10, while in the case of COVID-19, the odds are closer to 1 in 1. Especially in the absence of proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

- Paris Koël Purie Rinchet

Imagine the dread a soldier would feel if he had to fight in a radioactive, exploding warzone with little more than a bow and arrow. He would, however, surmount his fear because he has taken an oath to lay down his life for the greater good. From the moment he joins the armed forces, his family readies themselves to receive that dreaded call of his demise. As the arena has altered, all the rules of war have changed and roles have been swapped between those who are trained to sacrifice their lives and those who are trained to save lives.

LIFE, as it is unravelling in 2020, would be too far fetched even for a season finale of Grey’s Anatomy. In the off-screen world, doctors are not meant to risk their own lives while saving others. Their families are not prepped to comfort them from a distance, or lose them in the line of duty. They are scared and, rightly so. Yet, onwards they choose to march!

Next time you clap, bang thaalis and light diyas, remember it’s not the vibrations of sound or the purification by fire that will save us — it is those wearing the white coats, bravely taking on the role they didn’t sign up for.