Mahdavia Doctors meet over COVID-19 & Mahdavia community

A Mahdavia Doctors group was formed and over 100 doctors were brought on one platform from all the branches of medicine viz Allopathy, Unani and Homeopathy on 19 April 2020. Out of which about 40 medical doctors participated in a unique e-conference meeting that brought together many specialist doctors and health experts from various fields of medicine across the globe. The meeting was organized to discuss the prevalent COVID19 issue in the context of India and Mahdavia community.

Prominent speakers of this conference were Dr. Syed Basharath Mehdi (Consultant Chest Physician, Lung Cancer Lead, England), Dr. Viqar Syed (Medical Director and Consultant Radiation Oncologist, Apollo Hospitals, Bangalore), Dr. Syed Ibrahim Zubair (Assc. Professor SIMS, Hyderabad and Ass. Consultant Anaesthesiologist and Intensivist, MCH, Dammam), Dr. Muhammad Sarosh Ahmed (Preventive & Social Medicine specialist, Owaisi Hospital, Hyderabad), Dr. Noor Mohammed (Ass. Consultant Neuro-Intensivist, KSMC, Riyadh).

The two and half hour long conference started with Dr. Basharath's address. He discussed the symptomatology, diagnosis, treatment, latest ongoing research and advances on COVID19. He summarized the pandemic situation in UK and also made some vital recommendations to frontline doctors with best practices in the management of COVID19.

Dr Viqar Syed spoke eloquently on a lot of buzz-words such as 'lockdown', 'social-distancing', 'quarantine' and alike. Concerns over where and how do we go ahead post-lockdown were raised. Dr. Syed also explained how India is different in dealing with COVID19 and what challenges it faces considering the socio-economic demography and diversity of India. Special emphasis was laid upon why it is important to cater the needs of the poor and ensure the economic well being of the underprivileged to be successful in sustaining a prolonged lockdown. He further said, it is important to put the food on the plate of the poor to stop them from reaching the supply chain. Government must ensure to feed the people while sustaining the industries and the economy during this difficult time.

Dr. Syed Ibrahim Zubair, who is also an active social worker and takes special interest in community wellbeing by organizing public meetings, community health camps, awareness camps shared his experiences and challenges faced at the grass-root level. He summed up the various strategies adopted by different nations to fight the menace of COVID-19. He emphasized on the need of telemedicine to cater to the health needs of the society in this period of lockdown.

Dr. Sarosh Ahmed, an expert in social and preventive medicine, spoke on strategic aspects of preventive care. He stressed on the need for early and effective lockdown in India. He critically analyzed the response of the government to the pandemic and enlisted the short-comings of the present medical infrastructure in India and identified the gaps that must be bridged. He also mentioned that depending on herd immunity is not an option and highlighted how dangerous and grave the situation is.

Dr. Noor Mohammed discussed the need of the hour as to what and how a Mahdavi doctor should respond in these difficult times. He said that doctors are entrusted with the responsibility to safeguard the health and wellbeing of all mankind. He emphasized on the need of holistic approach to mitigate the psychological, emotional, spiritual, economical stress on individuals due to COVID19. Some key action points were suggested on how one can contribute in fighting this invisible enemy. The need to unite and deliver was underscored.

The conference concluded with a Q&A session that were primarily answered by the aforementioned panelists while other doctors such as Dr. Minhajuddin added their expert comments over chat for further discussion. Dr. Syed Naveed shared briefly, the best practices from UK on dentistry and necessary precautions that must be taken by dentists. He suggested to minimize face to face contact with patients and avoid aerosol generating procedures like drilling except in cases of emergencies.

A common theme that resonated with all the panelists was that there is no cure as of now for the novel Coronavirus and the only strategy to defeat this pandemic is by preventive means like social distancing, isolation and quarantining.

Unprecedented enemy needs innovative and unconventional methods to combat. Overall it was a very successful, informative and insightful meeting.

Furthermore, the core members will meet to chalk-out a plan of action and publish recommendations for the benefit of larger community that will entail topics such as precautions to take for ghusl, namaz e janaza and other logistics of handling an event of death with this sinister bug. A sense of urgency was expressed considering the fast approaching month of Ramzan so that prescribed rules and regulations reach out to the members of the Mahdavia community to ensure safe Taraveeh, Dugana and Eid prayers.

A report by Noor Mahdi, New Zealand