It was January 2020. In a Starbucks Coffee Shop near the Mumbai Airport
Arrivals Terminal 1, sipping cappuccino, I told my boss,
“Sir, majaa nai aa raha hai ab kaam karne ka (I am not enjoying my
work anymore), I’ll start something of my own.”
Puzzled, he counter-questioned,
“Do you have a plan B?"
Honestly, I didn’t have any backup plan.
So, I said,
“Sir, kuchh socha to nai hai par kuchh na kuchh to dhang ka kar hi
lunga, utna bharosa hai.
(Sir, I haven’t thought of anything yet, but I’d figure out
something productive for sure)”
Concerned for a just married 27 year old chap, he sighed,
“Beta, you should have a plan B. Finally, it’s your call but.”
That was it. I left the job. I told myself how difficult things could be
for an MBBS graduate with a management degree from Tata Institute of
Social Sciences.
However, it isn’t always what meets the eye. Soon, another opportunity
came my way. Same industry, better profile and better pay. After a lot
of brainstorming, I accepted the offer. Life probably had different
plans.
March 2020, the whole COVID-19 situation was slowly shaping up into a
pandemic with Europe being the epicentre. Slowly, the cases had started
increasing in India. My offer with the new organisation was deferred due
to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 scenario. I happily accepted
my fate.
On 24th March 2020, our honourable PM declared a nationwide lockdown. It
was a month long of staying indoors, playing games with family, cooking
meals, and watching news. As the numbers started increasing, all my
friends from medical school were all being deputed for Covid duties.
They were toiling day-in day-out in the circumstances the world had ever
seen. Me, I was vacationing. I couldn’t see them in the eyes. A part of
me strongly wanted to be there on the field, treating Covid 19 patients.
What good to do of my MBBS degree, if I don’t use it now when the
country needs it the most. My family was convinced that it was a suicide
of sorts, and yet knowing that I wanted to go, supported me . My
newlywed wife stood beside me.
Two months of working in a PPE kit in a Covid 19 ICU of a municipal
hospital, had shown me the worst of nightmares, the hope was undying
though. As it had to be, I contracted the virus at the end of May and so
did my father. Fortunately for us, it was a mild form of disease, we did
lose smell and taste and had fever for a couple of days. We were home
quarantined and recovered over 14 days.
Slowly, the cases that were heard only in news at large, were now slowly
being reported in the surrounding societies, cousins and the larger
family. My cell phone started ringing. People were scared to death of
the virus. The world was still busy figuring out the treatment. But the
science and statistics evolving, affirmed that the disease progressed
into a severe form for only a minor fraction of elderly and co-morbid
patients with a very few outliers. For the rest, the treatment was
largely symptomatic and keeping a track of oxygen saturation and
temperature. In few instances reported, it was often the fear that was
killing people way before the virus did.
We started attending the calls. 3am in the night, a distress call by a
Covid 19 patient,
“Doctor, my cough has increased. Will I die?”
We asked her to check her oxygen saturation at rest, made her walk for a
couple of minutes and asked her to check again. When both values were
normal, we reassured her that nothing’s going to happen to her. However
silly the nature of the call, we knew we had to rise to the occasion and
be there for the patient, family, relative, neighbour. A cloud of panic
had shadowed everything that was good. We wanted to be the silver
lining. You may think, why am I using “we” everywhere. There’s a reason
for “we”, my wife was a constant help in this whole process. If she
could send a prescription, she’d send it for me; if she could align
calls, she’d do it for me. She was there, right there with me.
With time passing by, word of mouth spread across and we had started
getting calls from the entire city. “This doctor will support and guide
your family throughout the Covid 19 disease,”they’d tell each other. We
did not formally charge a penny yet, but would receive generous amounts
of deposits in the bank at times. We were treating everyone at home. I
guess that was enough or probably that was the need of the hour. People
were afraid of hospitalisation, loneliness and the expenses. Getting
treated at home was a boon and we were doing it. My experience of two
years in the Homecare industry was very handy now. That’s how the dots
connect, I guess. Learning in any form, as they say, never goes to
waste.
Before our venture even had a name, we had already treated 100 plus
Covid 19 infected families. Aanchal, my wife, felt it was time we
structure our organisation into a more meaningful cause, so that we can
reach out to more and more people in distress. Thus was born Dr Sheth’s
Clinic and Homecare Solutions in August 2020. We ran a Covid 19 Home
Isolation and guidance program of 14 days for a meagre cost of 1,500 Rs.
It was an instant hit and the program has benefitted 1000+ people from
across the country, so far and it is still counting. Apart from the
program, we provided care takers, nurses, equipment, Oxygen
concentrators, beds, ICU set-ups, and ventilators to the needy patients.
Today, we are a team of 6 people. Aanchal, heads the Homecare
Operations. We have two nurses and two operations staff and I, run the
clinic and guide Homecare patients clinically. We wish to grow
organically and slowly over a period of time.
To sum up our journey, I’d say-
we had wanted to, we could move the mountains;
we would move the pebbles first.
Our story is not any extraordinary tale of victory over adversity or
failure to success. We very well acknowledge our privileged and educated
backgrounds and how they helped us. It is a story of how small
consistent efforts can lead to results, you yourself would have never
imagined. Your intent, intent should be in the right place and that is
all that matters. If you can sleep peacefully at night, you are “the”
human and you don’t need any adjective or sobriquet.
Dr Darshan Sheth
20 October 2021, 4:35pm