Combating coronavirus: What happens inside a Covid-19 hospital ward in Dubai

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coronavirus, covid-19, Aster hospital, al qusais

Dubai - Khaleej Times gives you an exclusive look from ground zero.

by

Anjana Sankar

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Published: Tue 21 Apr 2020, 11:34 AM

Last updated: Tue 21 Apr 2020, 7:32 PM

As the UAE steps up its fight against the coronavirus, Khaleej Times gets exclusive access inside a Covid-19 ward in Dubai to find out how medics as frontline warriors are saving lives. Our Assistant Editor Anjana Sankar will be with the doctors for a day at the Aster hospital in Al Qusais. Follow our live blog here for updates from ground zero.
You can also follow our live coverage on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
3pm
It is 3pm and I have spent nearly three hours inside the Covid-19 ward. It is hot and sweaty inside the PPE (personal protective equipment) gear. I am struggling to breathe inside the mask. My protective glasses are making my eyes foggy. Honestly, I can't wait to get out of this gear.

As I accompany the team of doctors who are attending to coronavirus-positive patients, it is not easy to watch the suffering people undergo. There are only male patients here from all age groups; young and old; healthy and those with medical conditions - the virus does not spare anyone.

I got access inside one of the ICU (intensive care unit) wards in the hospital. I take a deep breath before walking in with a silent prayer.

Beeping.

Constant beeping of monitors attached to the beds are deafening. The beeps break the otherwise eerie silence inside the ward. Nurses are busy. Some are attending to the patients, checking their vitals. Some are on the computer.  

I hear a patient groaning in pain. He is on a ventilator and his body is all wired up. I saw him gesturing by trying to lift his hands. I tell a nurse that maybe he was asking for something. "Bhaiya, kya chahiye? (brother, do you need something?)," the nurse asks. He can hardly talk but his hands move towards his mask. He wants to take it off and talk. "He is incubated. We cannot take the mask off except when giving him medicine and a sip of water," the nurse says.

5.30pm

2.15pm
2.03pm
2.03pm
1.49pm
1.34pm
1.15pm
1.03pm
12.38pm
12.33pm
11.43am



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