Excerpts…….
Herald: Good afternoon Dr Gomes, once again you are in the midst of a battle that you had already won more than a month ago. Your view?
DR EDWIN GOMES: Not exactly; the battle was never over, until and unless all Goans are back home. We want all Goans to be back home wherever they are stranded. While doing so, we may have to give some relaxations in the lockdown and this is when some or the other patient will test positive. Also, while COVID-19 is active everywhere in the country, how can we be free completely? At some point, it will be back through someone or the other. If you see in Goa, earlier as well the cases were all imported. There was only one case, wherein one brother had given it to another. So we can say Goa had just one COVID positive case. There are no issues in handling cases. If you can handle seven cases, you can handle seven hundred. What is the problem?!
Herald: You said 700. But do we have adequate infrastructure to handle that situation?
Dr Edwin: Yes, we have enough doctors and enough infrastructure to handle 200 patients at the moment.
Herald: On this, there are concerns that the traffic would be much more considering that around 3,000 seafarers and thousands of stranded Goans are expected to arrive next month. How do you plan to handle this, then?
Dr Edwin: When you talk about the numbers please do not get the people scared, because all the seafarers are coming after finishing their 14-day quarantine period. So even if they had COVID, they finished the COVID period, they may have been asymptomatic patients. They all won’t come positive. In fact, the 416 and others who came earlier have all come negative. So why do we have to think that 8,000 people will be positive. Even we were scared first but we were ready for the battle so we made 200 beds. But now we realize all these people who are coming have finished their quarantine period, they do not have any symptoms. The chance of so many people coming positive is very small now. In fact, I am only worried of people coming from Mumbai. Goans staying in Mumbai, if they come back to Goa they will be positive but we also have a plan how to look after them. We already have some Mumbai patients here.
Herald: Basically doctor, you mean to say Goa does not need to be scared about people coming in from abroad?
Dr Edwin: I think we have one of the best Health Secretaries, best Chief Secretary, one of the best Health Minister and a Chief Minister, who do not take individual decisions. They all talk to each other. I don’t know whether it is divine providence or their knowledge. I must tell you that this is the first time I have seen four people working together and not just one person. There is no ego, all of them are working together and taking very good decisions. Hence, I feel Goa is in safe hands and Goans need not fear about anything now.
Herald: Now that we know COVID is here to stay, till a vaccine is developed, what are the precautions you feel the people must take?
Dr Edwin: At the moment, don’t get scared of COVID as Goa Medical College (GMC) doctor’s team, not me, but Dr Nidhi, Dr Harshal, Dr Masood and Dr Geetali, have worked here for two months from March 29 till date. They have seen enough patients and they know exactly what tablet to add. They only take proper history and depending upon that they will start a treatment. So even if a Goan by chance becomes positive, do not worry. The day you get cough and fever please go to a government hospital, they will take your oral swab and within three hours you will know whether you are COVID positive or negative. Once you know you are positive, very good, thank god you are positive as we doctors can treat you. Now if you are negative we have to find out other cause. Once a patient is positive, the family will be also quarantined and we will keep a watch. But the family need not worry as there is no community spread yet in Goa. Even if they are quarantined it is just to take precautions. Their swabs will be taken and that’s it.
Herald: Doctor, can you tell us more about the line of treatment you have been following for the COVID patients?
Dr Edwin: Well, we have a very simple yet very successful line of treatment as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It is protocol-based. You don’t depend on many tests and not even blood counts; we are so sure of the treatment. We are giving the right treatment which will be difficult to explain to a layperson. The treatment has worked and with precision. So much so, that we can tell when the particular patient would recover. There have been small exceptions but those have been rectified. Nobody should die of COVID, if they do not die of dengue. Unless God wants to take somebody.
Herald: Talking of Goa, the cured patients are now calling you God, the saviour. Your say?
Dr Edwin: I am not God, let me be a doctor please. I am not the one who is treating. The people who are treating is the Chief Minister, the Health Minister and more than that the Health Secretary and Chief Secretary. They are the people who have taken our protocols and date and posted it Delhi and got it back with approval. The collectors, who have strictly implemented the lockdown. The police, who are at the borders, day in and day out. They have made my life easy. I am not God. My team of doctors, they are all good and in case I get COVID, they will take over.
Herald: Do you have enough backup of doctors in case of any problems in future?
Dr Edwin: Very much, I have Dr Nidhi Prabhu, who is my right hand and joined me on her birthday February 7, the second one is Dr Harshal Mhamlekar and then Dr Geetali and then Dr Masood. They have all come in. Besides that we also have trained and good ESI doctors.
Herald: When many doctors had shied away from taking this assignment what made you take charge of COVID hospital?
Dr Edwin: Nothing, I think it is a doctor’s duty to treat a patient. The Health Secretary asked me “Dr Edwin, are you taking charge?” I said “Yes”. That’s it. I believe in serving people and that is a doctor’s priority. Further, I also want to do geriatric medicine and OPD in GMC and I hope my colleagues and superiors would support me as I want to start serving old people.
Herald: How do you keep your team motivated right through the COVID pandemic?
Dr Edwin: Every patient getting discharged and cured, keeps us motivated. Whenever we see the numbers coming down from 69 to 28 we are happy and no patient goes into the ICU, which also keeps us motivated. What can motivate a doctor more than this?
Herald: Doctor, Goa has many people with comorbidities like diabetes and cancer. What would be your advice to them to prevent themselves from COVID?
Dr Edwin: Nothing different, when you get cold and fever come and meet us. Don’t worry we have treated a 63-year-old diabetic; her sugar was out of control as she had lost her appetite. Once the sugars are kept under control, they can come out of disease.
Herald: There are reports that COVID patients aren’t allowed mobiles, good food etc once they are in. Is this true?
Dr Edwin: That is why I say people must talk to those who are cured. We allow mobiles, good food. That same food we doctors also eat. You know our first patient Edgar, has even conducted his business from here in America. The scrubs are good. There is something extra, something Goan here.
Herald: Do you think lockdown has worked in India and Goa?
Dr Edwin: The lockdown worked really well, it did not allow the disease to spread. It gave us enough time to read. My protocol on February 7 was not like this; my protocol today, is there for everyone to see. It has allowed us time to strategize. The lockdown allowed time to study the virus.
Herald: There are rumors that the serious patients are shifted to Ward 113 in GMC where they are left to die and that the cause of death is given as something else. Your opinion?
Dr Edwin: I can confidently say, there have been no deaths in Goa due to COVID. The patients may have died due to respiratory disease. Even Jitendra Desprabhu’s test was negative. He may have contracted pneumonia wherever he had gone but not COVID.
Herald: Your message to Goans on COVID?
Dr Edwin: One thing, Covid is here to stay, we will have to live with Covid. All of us will get immunity and just like swine flu, it will slowly die out. We need to take proper protection though, so that it does not spread, as it becomes difficult to handle many patients at once.
Herald: There are reports that people who have recovered from COVID-19 are being stigmatized. What would be your message to Goans not to ill-treat such people?
Dr Edwin: People who are cured are not going to get COVID again. They have passed their phase of re-infection. Their anti-bodies are quite high. These are the people who even want to come and help us and if they come to help, it’s much better as they are not scared. Don’t treat them like an outcast, the Goan public is treating them like an outcast, this is something which is totally wrong. People who have recovered are good; their blood in certain places is used in treatment on COVID like plasma therapy. These patients need to be treated with respect as they are patients who are not going to get COVID again. If you treat them with respect, they will tell you good stories of COVID-19 hospital and staffers.