‘Unable to breathe, patients stare into doctors' eyes, pleading for help’

* Photos: Anadolu Agency (AA)

Click to read the article in Turkish

After the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak arrived in Turkey in March 2020, working in emergency services has become tiresome, according to a professor who has been working there for 21 years.

Speaking to Ayşe Yıldız from the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), Prof. Murat Yılmaz from the emergency service at Akdeniz University Hospital in Antalya has said that the treatment of intensive care unit patients is very difficult and carries the risk of infection for their caretakers.

"I make a great effort to ensure that no nurses, doctors and caregivers at the service get sick while we are treating our patients," he has said.

Noting that the process in treating COVID-19 patients is different from other diseases, he has noted the patients were conscious but could not breathe and stared into their doctor's eyes pleading for help.

"You use all the means provided by medicine, but you still can't satisfy the patient's struggle for breath," Yılmaz has said, adding that once a patient is put on a respiratory device, it is not easy to take them off again.

He has said that some patients stay for two to three months in intensive care and this may cause problems in terms of bed occupancy, with 15 intubated patients at their service at the moment. Yılmaz has noted that the age average for intubated patients has now fallen to 30-40 years old.

Regarding the observance of measures by the general public in Turkey, he has said, "If they saw our conditions, I am sure that people would be walking on the street like astronauts, let alone refusing to wear face masks."

'I cannot kiss my daughter for months'

Stressing that medical professionals have been going through tough times both psychologically and sociologically, Prof. Yılmaz has said that there have been times they cannot go back home.

"I have a daughter and a son. The moment I enter the door, my wife puts me under quarantine," he has said, adding that he always sits alone in the living room. "I have not been able to kiss my 14-year-old daughter for months," Yılmaz has said, adding that if people complied with social distance, wore masks and followed hygiene rules, the situation would not worsen.

The latest situation in Turkey

The Ministry of Health announced the latest figures on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Turkey yesterday (September 15).

While 1,742 people have tested positive, 67 people have died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. 1,202 people have recovered. The number of tests conducted in the last 24 hours has been announced as 110,412.

According to the figures announced till today, 8,742,535 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Turkey so far. While the total number of cases is 294,620, the death toll has reached 7,186.

While 1,327 patients are reportedly in critical condition, the rate of COVID-19 patients with pneumonia has been announced as 7.1 percent. The total number of recovered patients is 261,260. (TP/SD)