KLANG: These days, Dr Dhivya Dhyana Suppiah (pic) wakes up to more hope, which is a far cry from how it was a few months back.

       The 30-year-old doctor, who serves at a public hospital, is a frontliner who was trapped in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic when it was raging at its worst.

       Dr Dhivya Dhyana caught public attention when she uploaded a video on social media in July titled “Chronicles of a Frustrated Doctor”, narrating the physical and emotional challenges faced by medical frontliners.

       “Morale among doctors was very low at that point of time as many people, including those who were young and healthy, were dying.

       “Doctors had to choose whom to help as wards were overflowing and there was a shortage of medical equipment,” she recalled.

       Heaving a sigh of relief, Dr Dhivya Dhyana said the situation has changed drastically with a small number of people infected with Covid-19 being admitted currently.

       She added that many Covid-19 wards were also being shut down as there wasn’t a need for them anymore.

       “We used to have eight Covid-19 wards at the hospital where I work, and we now have only two.

       “We are going to shut down one more ward and leave only one open as the 60 beds it has is more than enough to receive the number of Covid-19 cases,” she added.

       Dr Dhivya Dhyana said all the additional intensive care unit wards that were opened during the height of the pandemic have also been shut down and there was now sufficient equipment to go around.

       She added that doctors were happy as they now can save everyone who is admitted as opposed to having to choose.

       On the number of cases, Dr Dhivya Dhyana said although the numbers were still high, most were in Categories 1 to 3.

       “There are only a small number of Categories 4 and 5 patients who require hospitalisation and oxygen, but we notice most of those getting admitted now are unvaccinated people,” she noted.

       According to Dr Dhivya Dhyana, working hours have also improved with frontliners no longer required to work long hours with merely short spurts of rest in between.

       On the current situation, she said the number of Covid-19 cases was expected to go up after a week or two from the date interstate travel was allowed.

       “But we believe the number of cases will not be as high as it was before and those infected will either be mild or asymptomatic cases,” she added.

       She “hopes everyone will get vaccinated as it is one of the main factors to curb Covid-19 fatalities”.

       In a previous interview with The Star, Dr Dhivya Dhyana had spoken about how a 38-year-old Covid-19 patient, with no other health problems, collapsed and died due to a blood clot in the lungs.

       “He was not vaccinated.

       “When I called his wife to tell her that her husband had died, I could hear their baby crying in the background,” she had said.

       The part-time fashion model and beauty pageant finalist had also stayed put in the public healthcare system when many of her peers, who were also contract doctors like her, had opted to leave during the peak of the pandemic due to uncertainties in their employment status.