A nurse wrote an eye-opening open letter about what’s happening in a COVID-19 referral hospital in Manila.
Brian Callangga shared his sentiments about an overheard conversation about Modified Enhance Community Quarantine (MECQ) he heard while he was buying food. He explained about the misunderstanding of the so-called “timeout” requested by the medical workers and health professionals.
According to Callanga, he was an Operating Room (OR) nurse then also assigned to COVID wards and ICUs because of shortage in manpower. He shared the common words and questions of their patients, who still able to talk aside to those who were in critical conditions.
- “Sir, sana pala hindi nalang ako lumabas” (Sir, I wish I shouldn’t go outside)
- “Sir, sana pala naging mas maingat kami” (Sir, we should be more careful)
- “Sir, sana pala hindi muna ako pumasok” (Sir, I shouldn’t went to work for the meantime)
- “Sir, yung asawa ko admitted din sa kabilang hospital” (Sir, my partner is admitted in other hospital)
- “Sir, ang hirap pala ng ganito” (Sir, never thought this hard)
- “Sir, nasaan na si Mama, bakit wala po akong kasama dito” (Sir, where’s my mom, why I’m alone?)
- “Sir, pag ba namatay ako, paglalamayan paba ako?” (Sir, if I die, will I be mourned?)
Callangga cleared that the medical sector didn’t want the public not to be able to go to work. They were the losers in both situations. People will go to hospitals whether the people didn’t eat well or get infected.
“Kami po ang talo sa parehas na sitwasyon, kasi kapag hindi kayo nakakain ng tama, sa ospital din ang diretso niyo. Kapag naman nahawa kayo sa labas, sa ospital din diretso niyo. Gets niyo po?”, he explained.
The nurse also tackled that they faced less trauma cases during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) compared to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) because of less people were outside in the public places.
He mentioned the large gap of number of cases per day between the two different community quarantine rules.
Callangga said there’s a possibility that the number of cases won’t decrease after the 2-week implementation of MECQ because of some people who were exposed the day before the new MECQ might show symptoms after 14 days.
Moreover, Callangga reminded fellow Filipinos to be mindful of their words they write on social media about the frontliners and situation in the Philippines. “kung hindi niyo naman naexperience first hand, wag nalang kayo magcomment please.” He reminded everyone to stop making social media a toxic place as it defeats its true purpose. “Wag nating gawing toxic ang social media, kaya nga siya social media kasi ginawa ito to socialize with other people hindi para idown ang kapwa.”
In addition, Brian Callangga shared that he haven’t seen his family since March. It’s because of his fear he might be a virus carrier, due to his every day exposure to infected patients. He also urged fellow medical workers to share their stories so the public will know the hardship they encounter every duty.
Read his full letter on his Facebook post.
Also Read: Ebe Dancel writes an open letter for medical workers and frontliners