In the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic over the past time, a bunch of pressure and hardship have been rested on the shoulders of medical staff, especially those at the grassroots medical levels. They have been active in supporting thousands of people in pandemic prevention and control. It seems all these tasks come from the command of their hearts.

Try to overcome pressure

One day in early November, the medical staff of An Hai Bac Ward Medical Centre, Son Tra District rushed to eat lunch at the table placed in the corner of the lobby after handling a lot of work. Those who finish work would take the initiative to have a meal to be ready to do other work

At that time, An Hai Bac Ward was one of the first localities citywide to deploy piloting home-based F1 (close contacts of COVID-19 patients) quarantine so the pressure was also great. The task of the ward-based medical staff is to survey and evaluate the standards and advise the locality to issue a decision to quarantine F1 at home. Then there are the days of health monitoring, guidance, consultation, supervision, taking swab COVID-19 samples for them.

The whole ward was divided into 7 areas, each area had a medical staff of the ward monitor, instruct F1 to quarantine and take swab samples for testing. If the number of F1 is higher, the management, monitoring and testing will increase. In tight blue protective suits, gloves and bags for medical waste, tools, biological samples for testing, dedicated medical staff crept through each small alley, walked around the neighbourhood to remind locals.

The pressure on local pandemic prevention and control is not only due to many tasks but also because it is not in a specific order and must be improvised. More importantly, those unnamed situations must be handled with responsibility and understanding, not rigidity.

The local medical staff has always made efforts to contribute to the city in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic despite all difficulties. Photo: PHAN CHUNG

It's a race against time

According to Ms Vo Thi Thanh Tung, Head of the Medical Centre of Hai Chau 1 Ward, Hai Chau District, August 2021 was the time when everything became so stressful, complicated and busy. “At that time, I received more than 100 calls per day from leaders at all levels to the leader of residential groups, people in the blockaded areas, locals who need to question. My ears ring as I answer phones a lot, so I have to turn on the speakerphone.

The pandemic is constantly changing, leading to the change of measures to prevent and control the pandemic. Grassroots medical staff have to race against time to organize tracing, quarantine, take COVID-19 swab samples, manage people returning from pandemic-hit areas, and support vaccination to bring peaceful life for people in residential areas.

On top of that, the close attention and encouragement of colleagues and the authorities at all levels, departments and unions have warmed the hearts of the medical staff. “There are days when I am so absorbed in work that I forget to eat. When I saw meals brought by someone of the ward-based People's Committees, the heart naturally feels warm since people still remember each other and share the most ordinary things amid the difficult periods," said Ms Tung.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG- Translating by T.VY