KARACHI: The Executive Director of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Dr Seemin Jamali has been hailed for her services and dedication during the coronavirus pandemic.
To mark the one year anniversary of that declaration, the US-based media outlet NPR recognised Dr Seemi Jamali as one of nine healthcare workers from around the world who are serving their communities in the fight against COVID-19. “To be a health care worker in the best of times includes days of stress, sorrow, frustration, triumph, joy and reflection — not always in that order,” it said.
To say the last year has been tough for Dr Jamali would be a “serious understatement” it added, as she faced personal and professional challenges. At one point last year, she and her husband, an orthopedic surgeon, were both sick in different wards of the hospital. He had COVID-19 while she had colon cancer. She also lost some family members and colleagues to the coronavirus.
The hardships in both her personal and work life have made Dr Jamali more determined to get up every day and do her job, even though she is at extra high risk if infected because of her cancer treatments; although she does spend less time in the emergency room since her illness
“I didn’t want to stay home. I didn’t want to live a life that was useless. I wanted to make my life worthwhile. There are so many people who benefit from my being here so it’s worth it,” she told the news outlet.
Dr Jamali said she is thankful for the help she received along the way. “The last three months of chemotherapy were really bad. And I pushed myself to go to work. They left their work, their family, their kids and came here to help me. There are no words to repay them for anything for the rest of my life.”
Dr Jamali runs one of the largest in Pakistan, overseeing projects and teams in the hospital and working in the emergency room. There have been regular attacks on doctors and nurses usually instigated by family members or acquaintances frustrated by a patient’s diagnosis or death. This aggravated during the pandemic as frustration and anger increased during the pandemic.
