WITHOUT APPLAUSE, BUT ALSO WITHOUT CONDEMNATION: General practitioners do not decide who and when to be tested

(Patria) - The situation is extraordinary, police officers, firefighters, healthcare workers, utility workers, miners are all working in strange and above all unusual situations. Some professions are under more public scrutiny, some less. Below, we present the address of a doctor from primary healthcare. Her name and surname are not important, she emphasizes, she is a doctor, and she is the same as everyone else.

"Esteemed you, people from armchairs, people in office and those without, one of those who, in the opinion of the majority, did not deserve the famous applause from the balconies is addressing you. We are all addressing you together and want to speak publicly, just as everyone does, but unlike many, we are coming forward with the real picture of what is actually happening behind the curtain called CORONA. The biggest greetings go to our esteemed patients because we are where we are because of them.

Our dear patients, we are not interested in justifying ourselves or proving anything, because I think we have proven ourselves many times by now. Our only goal is to remove the stain from the backs of primary healthcare employees, us who are currently a living shield and the first strike line against a dangerous opponent.

We are addressing those who seem to have forgotten that the current virus is not the only disease in our area and that doctors in health centers had an average of 50-60 patients even before this chaos and the newly created situation.

Despite everything that is currently happening, we continue to try and strive not to deny any of our patients services, and even in these conditions, when everyone is putting on special protective uniforms, we continue to provide home services to all patients who are prevented by illness from coming to the health institution, as well as those who are a vulnerable group of the population today, and we all know that it is not written on anyone's forehead whether they are positive for COVID-19.

We don't even count the services and advice provided by phone, nor is it recorded anywhere in our daily reports because apparently no one counts it as a service, but it happens that we are publicly "lynched" for even one unanswered call for a justified reason. Very often, almost always, we are there for patients' emergencies, ensuring regular therapies for thousands of our patients, issuing sick leaves, and properly managing everything that awaits us after all this.

The list of obligations for doctors and technicians is long, and the level of understanding from those for whom we are here is so low... We are also not immune to the nasty virus, we also have families and homes that we return to with fear every day, but this is our calling and we do not complain. The biggest and main reason for this address is to make it known that general practitioners do not decide who and when to be tested. Everything is done in agreement with the epidemiologist.

Stay healthy, follow orders, STAY HOME, and we will try to ensure that our generations continue their carefree education, and our elders reach old age. Without applause, but we ask you also WITHOUT CONDEMNATION, because we are not coming forward publicly for praise, but to present what it really is, and that is precisely this," it is stated.