Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today slipped into a PPE kit for a few hours to visit the Covid ward of the Tura Civil hospital in Garo Hills. He followed the footsteps of other Chief Ministers such as Tamil Nadu's MK Stalin, Assam's Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Sikkim's Prem Singh Tamang, looking to lift the morale of patients, doctors, nurses, and other health care workers.
Mr Sangma inspected the Covid facilities and understand first-hand the conditions in which the state's medical system and personnel are functioning.
Later, after leaving the ward and slipping out of the PPE, he made a series of tweets -- with photographs -- deeply appreciative of the frontline personnel tackling the pandemic.
"Salute our healthcare workers for treating patients with compassion, overlooking their own inconvenience, sometimes working in extreme weather and high-risk conditions," Mr Sangma tweeted.
"They deserve our utmost respect and appreciation. Thank them for all their hard work and dedication."
He briefly narrated on Twitter his experience of wearing the PPE kit worn by healthcare workers almost throug their workday.
"Wore a PPE Kit to inspect the Covid ward at Tura Civil Hospital. Even for a short duration, it was uncomfortable to don the PPE kit. I cannot fathom the inconvenience that our healthcare workers go through to care for our Covid patients every single day," he wrote.
AdvertisementThe Chief Minister then posted another picture of himself, soaked in sweat, after just having slipped out of the PPE safety wrap. He cited this experience to make a plea for caution against Covid.
"For those still not taking #COVID19 seriously, this is the level of inconvenience our healthcare workers go through. Our safety will ensure theirs," he said.
Mr Sangma followed up the ward visit with a shower, as per protocol. Since he didn't have extra clothes, hospital authorities provided him medical scrubs.