The UK-based doctor shares her biggest takeaways as a medical frontliner during this global health crisis
While life may have slowed down for many who were confined to their homes at the height of the Covid-19 crisis, it only got busier for London-based Dr Amalina Bakri and her colleagues.
Before the pandemic, Dr Bakri’s time was split between her clinical commitments as a specialist trainee general surgeon, her research work as a PhD Research Fellow at Imperial College London and her occasional travels.
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Then came the Covid-19 crisis, disrupting life in ways she couldn’t have possibly predicted.
The medical professional beloved by many Malaysians on Instagram opens up about her experiences and what she has learnt from them.
What was your initial reaction to the growing number of Covid-19 cases globally?
I wasn’t really expecting Covid-19 to hit as hard as it did. This is a novel virus, so there wasn’t much information available on how to treat the patients and it took time for the research to catch up. There are some encouraging treatments and vaccines in the pipeline, so we will hopefully see the outcome soon.
Tell us how the past few months have been for you.
In the UK, all hospitals are Covid hospitals. Many doctors from different specialties have been redeployed to look after Covid patients either in the ward or in critical care. Non-urgent elective surgeries have been cancelled, focusing on urgent cancer cases and emergencies. Operating rooms have been transformed into ICUs.
A few of my colleagues have been tested positive and so many staff have to do extra shifts to cover absences.
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