Dr. Peachy Rosales-Natividad, like most doctors, is scared. But what motivates her to go to University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital to battle the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a doctor’s sworn duty.

“This is what I am supposed to do as doctor. We are all scared but if we do not step up, who will?” she said. Rosales-Natividad specializes in pulmonary and critical care medicine. She is an educator and section chief at the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery.

The doctor continues to mold the minds of aspiring doctors by holding online classes for medical students. Other faculty members are uploading their lectures online for students, too. She enumerated the challenges of her job in this pandemic. One of the most painful things is seeing her colleagues succumb to the disease, she said.

“It also hurts when we see so many patients waiting to be tested but there are not enough kits available,” she said. “It makes us livid that some VIPs are tested before them.”

But she said that the most challenging part of her job is also the most painful. She has seen up close the cruel nature of COVID-19—patients suffering on their own, in isolation and away from loved ones.

There are things that make her grateful, too. She said that they have been receiving “ginormous amounts of food” as donations. The way her colleagues brave the danger made her appreciate them more.

“I am in awe of the selflessness of my co-healthcare workers. All of them! The residents, fellows, nurses and all the other hospital staff,” she said. “I am grateful for all their hard work and tireless efforts.”

To keep themselves sane during these trying times, she said that the pulmonary doctors have a virtual socialization hour. It’s a time when they just talk to each other about their day and laugh about things that happened to them while on duty. One of the topics that make them laugh are stories of hazmats not fitting the doctors with “more curves.” INQ