“I know it’s very easy to slip up, to make a mistake, and get covid but some people are putting themselves at risk. They are putting us nurses at risk. For what? Some fun? Because they don’t think this is real? They are tired wearing masks?

“The hospitals are flooded with patients. Flooded! All the beds are filled. And we are short staffed. Right now, I’m fed up of covid and I’m fed up of wearing PPE (personal protective equipment).”

Those were the sentiments of one nurse who has been caring for covid19 patients in the parallel health care system since March 2020.

In addition to being tired, stressed and frustrated, she has to work as she mourns the loss of a family member who died of covid 19 at the hospital to which she is assigned.

She told Sunday Newsday she had to watch her relative deteriorate and die, and then see his body remain on the bed for hours before it was picked up because the funeral home that usually removed the bodies of covid19 patients was overwhelmed owing to the increasing number of people dying from the virus.

“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it. Some of the symptoms are out of the ordinary. People’s oxygen levels are dropping even faster than before. We’ve never seen a spread like this. If things continue like this, I don’t think we will be able to maintain the parallel system.”

The scenario is unfolding even as medical professionals are shifting patients out of the hospitals as soon as it is safe for them to leave. The nurse said previously, once someone had covid19 they would stay at the hospitals until they were completely recovered. Now, patients are being sent home or to step-down facilities to quarantine when they are ambulatory to make room for critical patients.

The nurses have also been improvising because some supplies are running low. For example, she said there are not enough bed pans so vomit bags are used for people to urinate. There are also not enough oxygen outlets so they have to wait for one patient to finish, sanitise it as soon as possible and move another patient to the outlet.

“It’s stressful to watch all these people dying. And then sometimes you get attached to your patient and they start to deteriorate. It takes a toll on you. I think the government should just shut down everything completely because people are not listening and there’s only so much we can do. If they see how people are suffering, then they would understand.”

She also does not believe nurses are being treated fairly.

She recalled that last year many new and inexperienced nurses were hired to work in the parallel health care system.

“My first day on the job I was thrown into the intensive care unit. I had no idea about the ICU. And a lot of the nurses now had no experience whatsoever. When there was the lull, I did different courses to better myself so I can handle myself because I love the profession and I wanted to save lives.

She said in 2020 there were experienced nurses from various Regional Health Authorities in the system but, at the start of 2021, they returned to