Abstract

Contagious diseases continue to threaten and disrupt human populations, e.g. Spanish flu (1918-9), SARS (2003), Ebola (1976-), MERS (2012-), H5N1 avian flu (1996-) and Covid-19 (2019-). Although healthcare workers (HCWs) were the glue that held the health system and outbreak response together, 41% of the Covid-19 cases in Wuhan resulted from hospital-related transmission. Hence, one of the terrifying things about an infectious disease outbreak is that we not only risk our lives in caring for our patients, we risk infecting our family members. Times like this can leave HCWs torn between our responsibility to our families and our duty to our patients. We realized that courage was not the absence of fear. Instead, our devotion to duty became very powerful in the face of this adversity. This commitment was so strong that it overcame all personal dilemmas and kept us on the job.

The following factors made HCWs continue to give their heart and soul to the battle, even when their colleagues fall victim to the deadly virus:

1. Professional commitment to duty
2. Sense of altruism and self-sacrifice
3. Adequate supply of protective gear and medical insurance coverage for all HCWS and their families
4. Messages of gratitude and encouragement from relatives, friends and strangers in society
5. Many found calm and peace entrusting themselves to their Gods.

For the frontline HCWs who had soldiered on despite the risk, it was the badge of honour that they chose to wear. Many HCWs now have a renewed appreciation for the meaning, nobility and importance of their profession.