Lab staff continues Covid work near Mumbai, loses father

A laboratory technician at Wada’s Rural Hospital (RH) in Palghar district was unable to help his father, who suffered a heart attack, because he was working on swabs

A laboratory technician at Wada’s Rural Hospital (RH) in Palghar district was unable to help his father, who suffered a heart attack, because he was working on swabs of suspected Covid-19 patients.

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On Tuesday, lab technician Prahlad Patil, 39, was working on the samples from 22 swabs from suspected Covid-19 patients. While working, he wears personal protective equipment (PPE), which includes goggles, a face shield, a mask, a head cover and gloves. When his phone rang repeatedly, Patil ignored the calls since to take a call, he has to take off some of the PPE and so risk infection from the swabs.

At the time, he had no idea that the calls were from his relatives in the village of Bhopivali, who were trying to reach him because his father Amrut, 68, had suffered a heart attack and urgently needed medical attention.

When Patil took a break three hours later, he found more than 50 missed calls on his phone and learnt that his father was seriously ill. Patil immediately informed Dr Pradeep Jadhav, superintendent at RH, and just as he was leaving RH, he learnt his father had passed away.

“I, as the eldest son of the family, was unable to save my father, when it was expected from me, but I was also busy testing samples at the laboratory,” said Patil, who performed his father’s last rites on Tuesday evening. He doesn’t regret the choice that he inadvertently made. “I had a duty to perform,” he said.

Superintendent Dr Jadhav said Patil was an inspiration. “If Patil wanted, he could have gone to attend to his father and the administration would have helped him reach the village and provided other facilities. But Patil chose not to pick up the phone and continued to work in the laboratory,” he said, adding that Patil had called right after his father’s funeral and offered to return to work. “I told him not to and that the administration will call him if his presence is needed urgently. We are sad he was not able to help his family in their time of urgency, but he is an inspiration to all medical professionals of the nation. We are proud of him,” said Dr Jadhav.