Ward boys are risking their lives while attending to Covid-19 patients in hospitals across the country

Ward boys are as much the heros in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic as doctors and nurses are. With no professional medical training, they have been neck-to-neck with professional healthcare professionals in helping patients and families fight the deadly virus.

In this health crisis, families of COVID-19 patients depend on the much needed calm words and vital information from ward boys, as doctors and nurses have no time to spare. There is very little that doctors and nurses could do to improve communication, a ward boy told the BBC. They were so busy, they somehow managed to speak to the families of serious patients once a day. It's nobody’s fault - none of us were prepared for this kind of rush, he said.

The BBC report pointed out that ward boys share whatever information they can about the patient’s progress - they routinely inform the family about the patient’s blood oxygen levels. Even a little information goes a long way in reassuring families, a ward boy said. Sometimes the families feel happy with little things like when we tell them that the patient ate properly today or he smiled in the morning.

Ward boys risk their lives in hospitals across the country, hundreds of them have been infected with the virus, and some have even died. But their contribution in the fight against COVID-19 is seldom mentioned.