Call for volunteers at Hulhumale' Medical Facility, First Lady Fazna among those caring for Covid-positive patients

Volunteers have called for all those able to volunteer at the Hulhumale' Medical Facility (HMF), at a time Covid-19 cases have been surging across the Maldives with over 60 deaths reported in the ongoing month of May.

First Lady Fazna Ahmed was among those who registered to care for Covid-19 patients on Sunday, and spent six hours volunteering at HMF on Sunday.

In an interview with Raajje MV, First Lady Fazna shared her experience as a registered volunteer at HMF. She stated that volunteers caring for Covid positive patients at HMF had assisted patients in performing prayers, and had carried oxygen cylinders for patients, in addition to assisting those who were unable in using the restroom and providing relief to those who were experience muscle and joint pain among other symptoms of Covid-19. In addition to this, volunteers were tasked with caring for, spending time with and listening to those Covid-19 patients without helpers, in addition to keeping families updated on the status of patients, relaying well-wishes and prayers, transporting patients to and from the ICU and helping with the general keeping of the facility and managing its highly limited resources.

Aside from First Lady Fazna, former journalist at Raajje MV Rizna Zaereer was one of two persons who had answered the initial call for citizen volunteers at HMF. Stating that there was one nurse of every 20 Covid-19 patients at HMF, Rizna described her experience volunteering at HMF to local media as one that highlighted the various difficulties faced by healthcare workers in catering to a growing number of Covid-19 patients requiring critical care at HMF. She described these challenges as born of severely limited resources, including doctors, nurses, available hospital beds and time.

Health workers have raised the alarm that the increasing number of fatalities being reported could be due to the unmanageable doctor to patient ratio, when immediate care and attention cannot be provided to patients with Covid-19. Authorities have stressed the importance of following pandemic prevention measures as strictly as possible during this time, including social distancing, maintaining hand hygiene and effective masking outdoors.

Doctors, nurses, medical students and others volunteering at the Hulhumale' Medical Facility have called for all persons who are able to volunteer at the facility to do so amid a devastating surge in Covid-19 cases and fatalities in the Maldives.