Khoksha's EPI technician Shefa Khanam and her team have been working non-stop to help the patients access examination and treatment at the risk of their own lives. There is no medical officer in the team of "swab" collectors from patients. They also have worries about PPE and masks for personal protection.
The deadly coronavirus spread to the village earlier this month. Public awareness about the disease has not increased. But panic is spreading. When villagers see an outsider in the neighborhood, they inform the local health department or the police station. Day and night, whenever news of a new patient arrives, EPI technician Shefa's team is called.
Shefa, who is in her fifties, is a mother of two. She leaves her husband and children at home while she is working nonstop in an ambulance hired by the health department. The team is fulfilling the responsibility of examining the new patients of coronavirus and helping them get treatment. Her team has collected "throat swabs" for coronavirus examination of at least 23 suspected patients in the last three weeks since the beginning of April. This group of "swab" collectors is supposed to have a medical officer, but there isn’t one.
There is another senior technician named Abdul Matin in the swab collection team. There is also a private ambulance driver. Although PPE mask and gloves are officially provided for the personal safety of the members of this group, questions have been raised about how safe it is. They are also responsible for sending the throat swab collected from the patient's body to the district headquarters for examination.
Shefa Khanam said that they are doing dangerous work like collecting throat swab of a potential coronavirus patient with the vow of service. “The treatment of coronavirus is complicated and so is each level of testing. I feel blessed to be able to do something for the people in a moment of crisis. I am doing the work out of my own conscience,” she said.
A list of self-employed health workers who are tackling coronavirus has been sent to districts and ministries. She is not upset that the names of her team members were not included in the list. She said, “I am not doing the risky job of collecting "swabs" to get any compensation. We are doing the work at the risk of our lives to serve the sick.”
Kamruzzaman, Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer, admitted that Shefa is providing relentless service. He said it was not possible to give medical officers to the swab collectors as the medical officers were performing union based duties. A medical officer will be given to this team in future, he said. However, the doctor also admitted that the work of Shefa and her team is very risky.
