Doctors, nurses, first responders, policemen, ambulance and hearse drivers, gravediggers — these are among the frontline workers in the battle against Covid-19.
There are others, too, like the food delivery drivers and riders, pharmacists, grocery store employers and their staff — they give us some semblance of normalcy in our lives, keep our community safe and the world running.
There are hundreds of thousands of frontliners globally, who are out there every day putting their lives on the line for us; imagine a day without their services, where would we be? In March, Amnesty International said at least 17,000 health and frontline workers had died from Covid-19 in the past year based on an analysis compiled by Amnesty, Public Services International and UNI Global Union.
Malaysia has some 500,000 frontliners, 245,995 of whom are health frontliners. Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah says the health frontliners have been fully vaccinated.Figures are not yet forthcoming of the frontliners who've tragically died due to the coronavirus.
Since March, the unrelenting surge in Covid-19 cases has been "absolutely soul crushing" for frontliners, a private medical practitioner described recently. He claimed Malaysia's situation now is very much like Italy last year, where the public healthcare system is almost overwhelmed — hospitals are overcrowded, with not enough beds, ventilators and oxygen supplies.
Every other day, they are faced with deaths, as the number of Covid-19 fatalities rises. It was reported recently that since January, hundreds of doctors and nurses have resigned, or requested time off due to fatigue. This is bad news and an added burden on other frontliners. We need more Good Samaritans to help us get thorough these dark days.
There is an initiative by the Mental and Psychosocial Health Support Services Unit of the Selangor Health Department to enhance the emotional wellbeing of frontliners.
Words of encouragement are written on a card to be given to frontliners at the Integrated Quarantine and Treatment Centre at the Malaysia Agro Expo Park Serdang, in conjunction with this year's Merdeka month celebration.
The card, along with a pill-shaped pen, will then be tied on the door handle of vehicles or the side mirror of motorcycles belonging to frontliners. There should be more of such initiatives and campaigns to show our appreciation for their sacrifice.
Across the world many communities are doing a daily salute to frontliners by lighting candles, applauding, cheering, howling or sounding horns at a certain time of day. Scroll social media, there are group posts on Facebook and Instagram thanking frontliners for a job well done.
There are many ways to thank our frontliners — donate a meal to hospitals, vaccination and quarantine centres, post greeting cards to make their day or share a simple message on social media about how we value them.
The most important thing one can do, is to stay home and venture out only when necessary. This way, we limit the spread of Covid-19. Let's salute our frontliners and offer a daily prayer for them. They need our moral support and encouragement now, more than ever, to sustain their focus on the job at hand.