Diabetes is no reason to stay home for this ambulance driver from Karnataka – The New Indian Express

Express News Service

VIJAYAPURA: As an ambulance driver, Ningappa S Kumbar is no stranger to emergency. But even as the pandemic raged, the diabetic frontline worker never considered himself an emergency waiting to happen, though he ferried Covid-19 patients for several months last year.

A resident of Tikota town, 20km from Vijayapura, 39-year-old Ningappa works with the government-run 108 ambulance service. Hes been diabetic since the age of 25. An ambulance driver for the past 12 years, Ningappa currently gets about eight calls a day. Ambulance drivers have their share of risk because they ferry Covid patients and even the dead. The job has many challenges, including reaching patients as soon as possible and ensuring they get medical care in time, he says.

Though it has been known that co-morbid conditions can cause complications in Covid-19 patients, Ningappa never considered avoiding Covid duty. He is yet to get his second dose of vaccine. I know I am more vulnerable because I am diabetic. I am very cautious about my health, and wear PPE to attend to patients. My family boosts my morale each day, and that helps me serve people better. I cannot make excuses and avoid work in the middle of this health and humanitarian crisis, says Ningappa.

In the past one-and-a-half-years, he took barely any leave, and even when his father died due to a cardiac arrest recently, he took just four days off work. He is forced to cut down on quality time with family too, particularly with his two daughters.

Santosh Boda, programme officer for the GVK-EMRI 108 ambulance service, is proud of his staff comprising 120 people, including 63 drivers who handle 30 ambulances. Nine of the ambulances are currently deployed for Covid patients. The drivers have been working round-the-clock since the outbreak.

Some contracted the virus while on the job and reported back to work after they recovered, Boda says.District Health Officer Dr Mahendra Kapse said that since ambulance drivers are also frontline workers, they have all been vaccinated.

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Diabetes is no reason to stay home for this ambulance driver from Karnataka - The New Indian Express