Doctor In Corona Unit: ‘Yom Kippur Is Approaching And I’m Very Worried’

TEL AVIV (VINnews) — Dr. Or Goren, a member of the anasthesia staff at the ICU in Ichilov hospital, Tel Aviv, shared a shocking Facebook post in which he describes his feelings of dread in the wake of COVID-19 and implores people to obey Health Ministry regulations.

Goren writes:

Yom Kippur is approaching and I am worried. Prayer on Yom Kippur is a consensus and especially in this tough period we all need it. However mass prayer could have destructive results.

Firstly I’ll introduce myself. My name is Or, I’m a doctor in the anasthesia staff at the the Ichilov ICU and one of those responsible for treatment of coronavirus patients in the unit. In recent weeks we have been flooded, truly flooded, with very sick patients, even young ones.

Whoever hasn’t held the hand (properly protected of course) of a totally healthy 74-year-old woman at 8PM and to understand from her that she doesn’t want to be intubated and then to write her death certificate just six hours later, doesn’t know the meaning of terror.

Whoever hasn’t stood by a 45-year-old man slightly overweight who can’t breathe properly and then respirate him and establish his death just a week afterwards, does not know what a pandemic is.

Whoever has not made daily calls to families to update them on the deterioration of their loved ones does not know the meaning of anguish.

Whoever has not worked with total protective clothing in a hot, stuffy suit with steam on their glasses for long, exhausting hours trying to save another person, does not know the meaning of dedication. I have seen a lot in life. Over the years I have accompanied many people before their deaths. I went through swine flu, but something like this we have never yet seen.

There are young people who will never recover from their respiration because the disease has destroyed their lungs. There are old, active people who could have lived many more years dying with dizzying speed.

I call on everyone without malice or attempting to score points- please, pray according to regulations. If there are too many people, don’t go into the synagogue. Maintain distancing. If someone isn’t wearing a mask- don’t hesitate to comment to him.

Whoever thinks that prayer will protect him -besides the fact that “danger is more stringent than prohibitions”- if I didn’t have to maintain medical discretion, I would tell you how many chasidim and men of valor have fallen to this disease.

May G-d help us and make this difficult period pass and then we can go back to normal life. At present we are being tested from Heaven on how to preserve our lives and the lives of our loved ones.