Frontline devotees

Armenia has been fighting the coronavirus since early March. The state has invested all its resources in preventing the spread of the disease and thus reducing the burden on the health care system. Of course, these days the best people in Armenia and in the world are the medical workers, who are struggling day and night to not go home, to be cut off from their children, parents and relatives, to dedicate their lives to the cause.

Most of those dedicated to the front line are women. They account for 85% of health care workers. In a conversation with WomenNet.am, Gayane Hovhannisyan, chief resuscitator at the Marie Izmirlian Center and recently head of the resuscitation department at Nork Infectious Diseases Hospital, said that the coronavirus had hit doctors hard.

“It’s hard not to see family members, especially children, for weeks at a time. It is very painful for women, especially women, to be left out of the family and everyday life, not to see their children and to stay away from them, ”she says.

Gayane Hovhannisyan has been at the forefront for about a month, and has not gone home during this time. According to her, there are doctors and nurses in the infectious disease hospital who have not been at home since March 1^st, that is, since the first coronavirus infection.

“None of us has the right to endanger our family members, that’s why we, having contact with patients, should not go home. We are in touch with patients every hour, every minute, and the chances of getting infected are high. ”

Hovhannisyan says that the state has provided them with everything so that the risk of infection is minimized, they do not have a problem with masks, gloves, other special means and accessories. So the problems, she said, are more psychological. And the fact that our citizens have started to look at the situation through their fingers, to break the restrictions, to move freely, etc., puts even more complicated psychological feelings on all the doctors who have been cut off from home for the sake of the society.

Apart from the fact that it directly offends us, the results are already visible: the number of new infections is increasing day by day, that is, we are moving away from victory day by day. And I think that’s why the number of new infections will be high in the coming days. I’m sorry to say, but it’s true. One of our urgings is that every day you hear, “Stay at home so that we can also go home.” In this way, you bring the day closer when we embrace our family, ”she said.

And the fact that the disease is not a verdict is evidenced by the facts. For example, the doctor said that the patient with a number of chronic diseases, including vascular problems, diabetes, seven heart attacks and pneumonia, has recovered and is already at home. According to her, to have  many such victories, it is necessary to really follow the quarantine conditions.

“We all need to realize that if, the number of patients is high, doctors may not be able to deal with it and the situation will become uncontrollable,” she said. According to Gayane Hovhannisyan’s most optimistic forecast, the situation will remain tense until the end of May. She added that it is very difficult to predict anything today.

By the way, being on the frontline  is not something  new for her.  Former head of the military medical department of the RA Ministry of Defense, reservist colonel Gayane Hovhannisyan was the head of the resuscitation department of Muratsan military hospital during the April 2016 war. In those difficult days for Armenia and Artsakh, more than 35 lives were saved thanks to her and her colleagues.