GEORGE TOWN: It has been a heart-rending time for doctors like Dr Sophie Mak Yi Hong, who saw how Covid-19 patients fought their battle until they drew their last breath.
“I had a patient whose last words to me were ‘doctor, save me’,” said Dr Mak.
And she often had to steel herself for the final moments between the patient and the family.
Dr Mak related the case of a stroke victim, identified as Uncle Tan, who had been infected with the virus.
Uncle Tan, 64, could only move his left leg. Doctors knew his chances were slim and quickly arranged video calls for him to speak to his loved ones in Singapore and the United Kingdom.
He cried his heart out during the call. Uncle Tan could not utter a word and the only response he could give was to twitch his left leg vigorously.Dr Mak drenched in sweat after removing her PPE.
Dr Mak said she could see that Uncle Tan had so much to say, but all he could do was listen to his son promising to get him durians when he could return from Singapore.
Uncle Tan died five days later on Sept 8.
Another sorrowful situation involved a patient, Uncle Ong, who was also warded at the Penang Hospital with severe Covid-19.
Initially, Dr Mak could not get details of his next-of-kin.
“While searching for his background, I saw a post on Facebook about a family looking for a man who went missing for two days,” she recalled.
The MyKad photo in the post resembled Uncle Ong, so Dr Mak tried her luck and made contact.
Uncle Ong, 74, was conscious but lethargic during the video call she arranged. The family confirmed he was their missing family member.
“Six hours later, he died,” said Dr Mak.
In another case, a 60-year-old Uncle Yeap was admitted with an oxygen level of just 70%.
Dr Mak braced herself as she made a video call on his behalf, only to discover that Uncle Yeap’s son was her schoolmate.
She felt a pang in her heart then.
“Uncle Yeap held my arm. He was suffocating. He asked me not to show his family the bad condition he was in.
“But when his sisters and wife joined the video call, he started sobbing and introduced them to me.
“He kept saying thank you while holding my hands. We tried our best, but he died the next day. I felt really, really bad that I couldn’t save him,” she said.
Every day when Dr Mak, 27, goes to work, she knows she would see more pain and deaths.
“I had a patient who wanted to give up because his wife died of Covid-19. When we reminded him of his children, he fought bravely but he died in the end.”
Another patient told her he was scared and asked if he was going to die because he wanted to see his wife and children again.
As a young contract doctor assigned to the Covid-19 ward five months ago, Dr Mak said the situation at Penang Hospital had worsened considerably.
“From only three Covid-19 wards, we now have 12 and several low risk centres. Last time, most patients got well but now, many more cannot see their families again.
“Now, we count our oxygen ports every day because most of the patients need it,” she told The Star.
Dr Mak caught public attention when her posts on her experience on the front lines appeared on social media, including in the Docs on Vacay Facebook page which belongs to a fellow frontliner Dr Iise Chew.
According to her, she said the illness now kills not only high-risk patients but those who are young with no history of illnesses.
Dr Mak, who is a Universiti Malaya graduate, also discovered to her dismay, that many patients were unvaccinated because they were choosy about vaccines.
“You can make a difference to our nation by just getting vaccinated.”
“If you have symptoms, be responsible and quarantine yourself, follow the standard operating procedures and stop disseminating fake news about Covid-19,” she said.
Dr Mak has an older brother who is also a doctor in a health clinic in Cheroh, Pahang, who is in charge of the vaccination initiative for Orang Asli in Raub. She has a younger brother as well.