'Clean and efficient': Kerala vlogger chronicles stay in coronavirus isolation ward

Shakir Subhan has been on a journey to tour the world on his motorcycle when he had to cut short his trip and come back to Kerala following the coronavirus outbreak.
'Clean and efficient': Kerala vlogger chronicles stay in coronavirus isolation ward
'Clean and efficient': Kerala vlogger chronicles stay in coronavirus isolation ward
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I am going like a prime minister now. They have moved aside all the other passengers (in the airport) and even the customs check. Everyone is maintaining a distance from me. For the first time in my life, I am going like a VIP. We should enjoy every moment.

Shakir Subhan has an N95 mask on his face as he says this, walking through the Kannur airport with his selfie stick, recording a new experience in his life – being taken to an isolation ward to be tested for coronavirus. In the vlog, Shakir, a young Malayali video blogger who just landed in Kannur from Azerbaijan, is seen willingly going with the health officials to the isolation ward at the Kannur government hospital, where he would continue recording his experience.

In a video no longer than 23 minutes, Shakir records his first day at the isolation ward, where he is nearly all alone, sparing a nurse in protective gear. Another person, who was under observation, had just left after being tested negative, and Shakir is all alone with his gadgets, freely, cheerfully recording his day at the ward.

There is no disappointment on his (half-masked) face that one would expect from a young man who had set off on a journey to tour the world on his motorcycle but had to cut short the trip in a few months. He had set off on his journey in October 2019 and covered the Gulf countries like Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Iran. 

When Shakir reached Azerbaijan, the virus outbreak had reached the Eurasian country and the doors were locked for outsiders. But in a previous video – he has been continuously recording his journey on his YouTube channel Mallu Traveler – Shakir says, he will forget the disappointment of cutting short the trip and embrace the joy of going back home again.

Even the new video is full of positivity, where Shakir continuously reminds his audience that it is important to enjoy the moments, to not be afraid while taking all the precautions.

From the airport, he is taken on an ambulance to the hospital. When the medical team tells him not to be afraid, Shakir says, “No tension at all! I wouldn’t mind lying there (isolation ward) for 15 days. I will make sure it won’t spread to anyone.”

At the ward, he is seen saying: “It might take three days (to get the results of the test). It’s like when we get a fever and be admitted. We will get food and everything. We can call home and ask for clothes.”

Shakir gives the viewers all the updates – when his samples are taken for testing, when he is brought food and tablets, after he finishes his naps, when he vomits and so on. He comments on the neatness and the facilities of the isolation ward and tells his audience that they should change their prejudices against government hospitals. Stating that government hospitals are clean and efficient, he adds, "Equipment used on me will not be used on another. The government is more forward than one thinks."

It is touching when he says he is hungry and has only Rs 30 with him in the bag. “That's when I realise we don’t need money here. They gave me bread, eggs and tea from the hospital,” he says. 

His idea of an isolation ward was different, he says. “I thought I would be made to lie in the bed and be surrounded by doctors. It’s not like that.”

He vomited twice and was promptly given medications. He is brought lunch by a friend – who doesn’t enter the ward, of course. In the evening, he enjoys the taste of pazhampori (banana fritters) and tea – something he says he has missed during his long journey away from home.

The only complaint he has, as he says in the video, is the shortage of water in the hospital some times.

Shakir also uses every moment he could to caution others. “If you come home (from coronavirus-infected places) without going to a hospital first, you will spread the disease to your family. The primary purpose of wearing a mask is that you don’t risk spreading the virus to others, and then you also don’t contract it from others. You should cancel all your travel plans for now, and don’t go for any rides. Don’t be mad at me for saying this, but the situation demands it. We cannot tell the disease off, we need to take precautions.”

He also shares his concern for the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), who, he believes, bring the biggest revenues to the country. To the NRIs, he says, “When you come to India and if you feel any of the symptoms (for coronavirus), come here (to the hospital), you can lie here, eat some apples and oranges and go home in a few days.”

He ends his video with these words of advice: “Be serious about the precautions you have to take, such as wearing masks, avoiding public functions and washing hands. But you don’t need to be afraid of the disease. We are living in Kerala. We have a medical system that’s proven and recognised.”

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