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Doctors Dealing With COVID-19 in Pakistan: Experiences, Perceptions, Fear, and Responsibility

This study aimed to describe the dealings of 20 biomedical doctors with coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Focusing on physicians from three different hospitals, we describe their challenges, emotions, and views concerning the pandemic. Many regarded the virus from...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ali, Inayat, Sadique, Salma, Ali, Shahbaz
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8674424/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34926360
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.647543
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author Ali, Inayat
Sadique, Salma
Ali, Shahbaz
author_facet Ali, Inayat
Sadique, Salma
Ali, Shahbaz
author_sort Ali, Inayat
collection PubMed
description This study aimed to describe the dealings of 20 biomedical doctors with coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Focusing on physicians from three different hospitals, we describe their challenges, emotions, and views concerning the pandemic. Many regarded the virus from a biomedical standpoint. Yet some also perceived it as a “tool of a proxy war” and a “plot,” without giving agency to anyone for that “plot.” Furthermore, these care providers faced a great fear of infection and an even greater fear of transmitting the virus to their families and friends. A few also feared stigmatization as viral carriers. Whether they experienced fear or not, all of our physician interlocutors emphasized their sense of responsibility to “serve humanity,” yet some also expressed a strong belief in the inevitability of the will of Allah. Some were satisfied with the role of the government in containing the virus, while others expressed concerns and felt that the government should be doing much more. All expressed confidence in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), viewing it as an effective buffer against viral contagion. We conclude with a call for further research especially ethnographic studies on dealings of physicians with COVID-19 across Pakistan as frontline care providers.
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spelling pubmed-86744242021-12-17 Doctors Dealing With COVID-19 in Pakistan: Experiences, Perceptions, Fear, and Responsibility Ali, Inayat Sadique, Salma Ali, Shahbaz Front Public Health Public Health This study aimed to describe the dealings of 20 biomedical doctors with coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Focusing on physicians from three different hospitals, we describe their challenges, emotions, and views concerning the pandemic. Many regarded the virus from a biomedical standpoint. Yet some also perceived it as a “tool of a proxy war” and a “plot,” without giving agency to anyone for that “plot.” Furthermore, these care providers faced a great fear of infection and an even greater fear of transmitting the virus to their families and friends. A few also feared stigmatization as viral carriers. Whether they experienced fear or not, all of our physician interlocutors emphasized their sense of responsibility to “serve humanity,” yet some also expressed a strong belief in the inevitability of the will of Allah. Some were satisfied with the role of the government in containing the virus, while others expressed concerns and felt that the government should be doing much more. All expressed confidence in the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), viewing it as an effective buffer against viral contagion. We conclude with a call for further research especially ethnographic studies on dealings of physicians with COVID-19 across Pakistan as frontline care providers. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8674424/ /pubmed/34926360 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.647543 Text en Copyright © 2021 Ali, Sadique and Ali. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Ali, Inayat
Sadique, Salma
Ali, Shahbaz
Doctors Dealing With COVID-19 in Pakistan: Experiences, Perceptions, Fear, and Responsibility
title Doctors Dealing With COVID-19 in Pakistan: Experiences, Perceptions, Fear, and Responsibility
title_full Doctors Dealing With COVID-19 in Pakistan: Experiences, Perceptions, Fear, and Responsibility
title_fullStr Doctors Dealing With COVID-19 in Pakistan: Experiences, Perceptions, Fear, and Responsibility
title_full_unstemmed Doctors Dealing With COVID-19 in Pakistan: Experiences, Perceptions, Fear, and Responsibility
title_short Doctors Dealing With COVID-19 in Pakistan: Experiences, Perceptions, Fear, and Responsibility
title_sort doctors dealing with covid-19 in pakistan: experiences, perceptions, fear, and responsibility
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8674424/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34926360
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.647543
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