Doctor who survived coronavirus wants to give hope to others

A doctor who survived coronavirus wants to give hope to others that they too can overcome the illness.

Dr Hamza Ansari fell ill whilst working at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in Shropshire.

After a week of battling the virus at home, he was admitted to the hospital, and then after suffering respiratory failure was taken to the High Dependency Unit.

The Doctor, who also has asthma, spent nine days on HDU being given 100% oxygen through a face mask, while catheterised and fed through a tube.

His experience was made harder by the fact that his mobile phone had run out of battery, meaning he was unable to speak to his wife and baby daughter.

Dr Hamza Ansari works on the trauma and orthopaedic ward at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, and only started training there in August of last year.

He said the care that his colleagues gave him in the HDU is the reason he is still alive.

Dr Ansari is currently living alone because his wife and daughter are in Canada.

They went for a family holiday earlier this year but got stuck there because of lockdown.

Therefore, one of Dr Ansari's colleagues, senior consultant, Lieutenant Colonel Carl Meyer, cared for him in his family home for a few days after he left hospital, until he was well enough to go back to his own home and look after himself.

Dr Ansari is now looking forward to going back to work in a week or so's time, and says his own experience will help him when he provides care on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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