Kerala doctor postpones marriage, continues to serve COVID-19 patients

While scores of marriages in Kerala are being postponed in view of COVID-19, the postponement of the marriage of a 23-year-old girl hailing from North Kerala stands apart as she is a doctor on duty in COVID-19 isolation wards.

Dr Shifa Mohammed, who is a house surgeon at the Pariyaram Medical College and Hospital in Kannur, was scheduled to tie the nuptial knot on March 29 with Anus Muhammed, a Dubai-based businessman. Shifa was working in the COVID-19 isolation ward in the medical college hospital.

Both families had no second thought in postponing the marriage and incidentally on the day scheduled for her marriage also she was on duty in the COVID-19 ward.

Shifa's comment about her marriage being postponed was that she did not do anything great considering the sufferings faced by scores of people across the world owing to COVID-19. He father Mukkam Muhammed, a local politician, said that since his daughter was involved in the fight against COVID-19, there were no plans of going ahead with the marriage even as a low-key affair.

A family in Kollam in Kerala is keeping its fingers crossed as the marriage of their daughter, who is a junior doctor, is scheduled for the end of the month. "We are unable to take a decision on whether to postpone the marriage or not so far as the situation is not clear yet," said a close relative of the bride.

Kerala Government Medical Officers Association State President Dr Joseph Chacko said that the personal lives of doctors have been shattered by COVID-19. Some of the doctors are even virtually staying in the hospitals itself these days. The inadequate number of safety gadgets like three-layer masks are also posing health risks to doctors.