Cape Town - The Western Cape Government is continuing its series of stories from the frontline where healthcare workers share their first-hand experience of battling Covid-19.
This time, Dr Ricardo Titus from False Bay Hospital, shared a personal story of treating a Covid-19 patient that affected him deeply.
“There was a young man who was brought in. He was on a ventilator. A man came with him, to ask about his well-being. I assumed it was his brother. I spoke to him and told him what had happened.
“I took him to this man, and said: ’This is your brother’. I put his hand on the man’s) chest and said: ’Feel his heart. His heart is still beating’. The man placed his hand on my hand (and) at that moment said: ’This is my son’.”
“Every single bit of my being ended that very moment,” Titus said.
“I felt the pain of all fathers who lost their sons; all fathers who could lose their sons; all sons who are lost their fathers. And that is from Covid. Nothing else (just) Covid.”
“Covid is preventable. Keep your distance wear your masks.”
Titus’ story follows that of Dr Lauricia Bailey, the emergency medical officer at New Somerset Hospital, who addressed a false assumption among the public amid a resurgence in infections.
’’What people don’t understand is that they keep on saying we’re the front line. We’re not. We’re pretty much the last line of defence,“ she said.
“It’s nothing that we can describe to anybody. It’s something they have to see and I think what it is quite disappointing is that the public is not taking this seriously...”
As of 1pm on 15 December, the Western Cape has 24 485 active Covid-19 infections with a total of 157 348 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 127 687 recoveries.
The Western Cape has also recorded 5176 deaths, and conducted 904 088 tests. There are 1 872 hospitalisations with 283 of these in ICU or high care.
Cape Argus