Will we take the Zoom out of healing this year?

What insight did you gain from one year of the pandemicrdquo I asked family and friends as we dipped crisp Parle G biscuits into hot pudina chai sitting on a swing on the outskirts of the city We had taken off for a weekend ironically after a year that seemed to be full of only SundaysldquoI realised I have more than enoughrdquo my mum said proudlyldquoI understood the value of being selfsufficientrdquo said another who used to have five house helps with his wife chiming in with ldquobut some corners of the house are just impossible to cleanrdquoldquoThere was nowhere outside to go So the only option was to look inside and it turns out there were many more corners to clean thererdquo another one professed with perspicacityldquoCOVID covered our faces but it forced us to look into each otherrsquos eyesrdquo introspected another with some sagacityldquoLife is complicated and unexpected and we should be okay with thatrdquo concluded someone elseYes my people are more interesting than I amThe COVID19 phenomenon has been truly global It has stirred every corner of the world in a way no one alive has experienced before There wasnrsquot a business that was not impacted an economy that wasnrsquot jolted a relationship that wasnrsquot tested and an industry that wasnrsquot affected the spectrum of change vacillating from woe to wonder The veil of our inadequacies was lifted and a mirror placed in front of us which kept cracking as each month of the lockdown progressed For some the mirrors eventually shattered while others allowed for the light to come in through the cracksOne would imagine that the entire medical fraternity would have been preoccupied with an illness of this magnitude but that wasnrsquot the case While physicians were at the forefront to begin with surgeons stepped in when we began to experience macabre complications of the virus that could be solved only by the knife Endlessly tired people just wanted to overcome the problem and make it go away But the truth taught by each wave of COVID19 is that things donrsquot really get solved They come together and then fall apart They come together again and fall apart again And in the midst of this strangeness we had to make room for all our emotions grief sorrow misery relief and joyThe staff at the Wockhardt Hospital which I am associated with faced a bit of a predicament in the nascent stages In a series of unfortunate events close to hundred of them were infected We had to transport existing patients to other facilities quarantine and treat our own personnel shut the building down and refurbish and open it up to treat only COVID19 patients Most of the staff pugnaciously returned to work donating their resplendent and rich plasma for patients for whom it was valued more than its weight in gold Having treated over 3000 cases our mortality rate for COVID19 was nearly half when compared to the average of other hospitals in South Mumbai Stories of courage and resilience continue to satiate our corridors there is seldom a day we go hungryWhile this malady has set into motion a train of misfortune the most tragic derailmentmdashespecially for doctorsmdashis that it has taken away the comfort of touch The joy a patient experiences when you bend forward and hold their hand while they lay in bed on the day after surgery or when you help them up and make them walk for the first time since can never be equalled by simulating the sequence on a flat screen even if you do light it up with a panoply of emojis A pat on the back an arm around the shoulder a simple hug is what COVID19 has taken away from us Now when we meet friends even those we know well we hesitate before greeting them should we shake hands bump fists or nudge elbows There is an awkwardness in the way we greetmdashan absurd but amusing oddityWhen patients see you in the clinic they expect you to touch their lumps and bumps press where it hurts straighten out whatrsquos bent They want you to shine a torch in their eyes and have you look inside their mouths and say ldquoAaahrdquo even if itrsquos a backache theyrsquove come to see you for Those who need surgery give you permission to examine them when they are awake to discern if you will do justice to them when they will be asleep Itrsquos unfair to those who were operated during the lockdown we recognise them only from the scars wersquove left behindThe stethoscope was invented in 1816 by a French physician who was too embarrassed to put his ear to a female patientrsquos chest to listen to her heart and lungs as was the norm at the time opting instead to roll 24 sheets of paper into a cone to create some distance between them To say that a few doctors might not be too happy with that invention is simply a matter of jest But touch not only examines but also heals Even prior to the pandemic some of us were guilty of treating images and not patients not examining patients in depth not talking enough to the relatives The alreadyexisting chasm between doctor and patient was cleaved further by COVID19 We hope that with time we will not only be able to touch again but also feel more deeply Until then there shall be a sense of impending lsquoZoomrsquoEveryonersquos lives now have an element of Zoom to them Doctors have transitioned to seeing patients online and it works better in some specialties than others Irsquom guessing gynaecologists and urologists must be having a really hard time Irsquom blessed to deal with the brain and spinemdashparts of the body that are easily dealt with online and offline With the vaccine being rolled out the fear of walking into a hospital is being alleviated and with time and experience we have mastered for our patients to feel safe and assured Everyone who can must get vaccinated for us to move onThe one question that still plagues me is this On a universal scale did COVID19 do more good or bad The ones who lost loved ones will undoubtedly and unequivocally state lsquobadrsquo The ones who spent this past year learning more about themselves and what they really needed from life might opt for lsquogoodrsquo But there are also those who donrsquot know yet because they continue to battlemdashthe virus their anxiety their fears for the futuremdashand who knows what the future might bring And then we have those who acknowledge perhaps the most important truth of all There is no such thing as good or bad there is only what isMaybe wersquoll know the answer another year from now maybe itrsquoll take us a decade or maybe we wonrsquot know at all Until then in the words of Ram Dass be here nowThe writer is practicing neurosurgeon at Wockhardt Hospitals and Honorary Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Group of Hospitals