Infected by Covid, Colombian doctor stared death in the face

BOGOTA: Colombian doctor Norberto Medina has lived all facets of the coronavirus epidemic.

He has seen patients die and nursed others back to health. He contracted the virus himself, stared death in the face in intensive care, and donated blood plasma containing antibodies with which to treat others afflicted.

He has also received the vaccine.

With some persisting effects of his Covid-19 infection, Medina is back on the job, treating ailing patients at an intensive care unit (ICU) in the capital Bogota, Colombia's epidemic hotspot.

"The pandemic has changed me forever, it has made me more humane," the 41-year-old doctor tells AFP.

Since the first coronavirus case was reported in Colombia in March 2020, more than 50,000 healthcare workers in the country have been infected, and 227 have died.

Colombia is one of the top 11 countries in the world in terms of infections.

More than 2.3 million people in the country of 50 million inhabitants are recorded to have contracted the virus, resulting in over 61,300 deaths.

For many months during 2020's first, terrible epidemic wave, Medina formed part of a team of more than 60 doctors at his unit who took turns in three daily shifts to take care of the most severely ill.

In the worst periods, the few doctors not infected had to double their shifts to make up for the absence of their fallen colleagues.