UP lab staffer says duty above personal life

A laboratory technician at the Urban Community Health Centre in Baloo Adda here, Ritesh said it was a kind of national duty.

Ritesh Raj Mishra, a lab technician at a community health centre, could only meet his wife, Neha, on her birthday for all of five minutes. He has been living at a quarantine centre in a city hotel, and she has been at her parents’ house. He met her at their doorstep and left within minutes.

Ritesh said he and his team work tirelessly day and night. “I draw a lot of inspiration from my team members and seniors and I am confident that we will be able to defeat Covid-19,” he said. (Pratham Gokhale/HT file photo. Representative image)

“I couldn’t even give her a gift,” Mishra said.

For several weeks now, Mishra, has been collecting samples of suspected Covid-19 patients in the lab he works at. He knows the risk associated with his job, and that he may also contract the infection, but has no regrets. He feels it is a part of his duty emerging out of an extraordinary situation.

A laboratory technician at the Urban Community Health Centre in Baloo Adda here, Ritesh said it was a kind of national duty.

On April 13, Ritesh and his team had to go to Kasaibada locality to collect samples of 117 people. “We started working at 4pm and continued till 10.30 pm. Precautions had to be taken so that no one in the team got infected, he said. The area had earlier been declared a containment zone.

“When the administration, police, doctors and paramedical staff are working 24x7, you don’t feel hungry or thirsty amid the pressure of work,” he said.

Ritesh said he and his team work tirelessly day and night. “I draw a lot of inspiration from my team members and seniors and I am confident that we will be able to defeat Covid-19,” he said.

“There is always a risk, but we take precautions to ensure we don’t get infected,” the 28-year-old said.