IT is like drowning. That is how a Covid-19 patient with a serious infection feels as he struggles to breathe.

That was the observation of Associate Professor Dr Tan Toh Leong, who treats seriously ill Covid-19 patients daily at the emergency department of Canselor Tuanku Muhriz Hospital, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Tan decided to come out and lay bare the suffering of Covid-19 patients, as he felt people were taking the pandemic lightly, thinking it was just like getting a fever or a cold.

He reminded the public the infection is not something to be taken lightly especially when the country is seeing an unprecedented high of daily cases.

“You know what it feels like… drowning? When the lung is filled with water that cannot be taken out?” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“You have to see how the patients go through this, only then will you understand what I am talking about.

“Their eyes grow big as they struggle for breath, their face turns pale and they are unable to talk. Some can only hold on to doctors for oxygen, sometimes the grip is so tight,” Tan said.

He said it does not stop there as patients will also have to go through the pain of having wires and tubes inserted as part of the procedure.

“You don’t want that… you really don’t want that.

“We feel pity for them when they get sick. We are the ones who are going to see them suffering but we can’t do much,” Tan said.

Sometimes the patients on their deathbeds only get to talk to their loved ones over the phone as their families cannot be with them in their final moments.

Tan said most of the time, doctors say the final prayers for their patients, as they are the last people to see them.

He said while the number of fatalities may seem low, it is not something that can be taken lightly, given the increasing caseload.

“I am being truthful to the people. They have to understand that Covid-19 is not a mild thing,” he said.

“A 0.4% death rate with the numbers increasing daily still makes an impact. It might be us or our loved ones in there,” he said.

Tan said doctors do not want to be pushed into a situation where they have to choose who survives and who does not due to the limited resources, but added that could eventually be inevitable if the healthcare system collapses after being overstretched.

Commenting on the numbers, he said more than 20,000 new cases were reported in the past four days, which meant there are 20,000 new patients requiring care.

Currently, Tan said, there is no drug to cure Covid-19 and the treatment given is to help patients fight the virus, adding this also boils down to the patient’s ability to fight the virus and respond to treatment.

He said while the Health Ministry is doing a good job and working to the best of its ability to fight the virus, the people too must cooperate by doing their part.

He said people will have to stay at home as much as they can and if a new infectious variant forms or if daily cases reach 10,000, it will take months to come down to 1,000.

“It will become like Wuhan or India,” Tan said.

“If they can’t bear to stay home for one year then we will be at the losing end as the virus doesn’t care (who it is infecting),” he said, adding that a full lockdown may help.

He said vaccination is the light at the end of the tunnel. However, even after being vaccinated, if people carry on with their activities with few restrictions, new variants can be formed and the target to develop herd immunity will be jeopardised.

“This means we will have to start all over again,” he said.

Tan said one can only hope that the virus vanishes on its own, a cure is found, or people develop immunity.

His reminder comes as the country has been recording more than 6,000 cases for two days in a row, for the first time since the onset of the pandemic in January last year.

ICU beds have been filling up rapidly with hospitals scrambling to repurpose spaces to open up new ICUs and wards.

Yesterday, 6,806 new cases were reported while active cases rose to 50,171.

There were 59 deaths reported yesterday, taking the toll of fatalities to 2,099. – May 21, 2021.