COVID-19 Combat Fatigue among the Healthcare Workers: Time for Retrospection and Action

The present pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus has battered the healthcare infrastructure all around the globe. The doctors, nurses, and healthcare staff-the COVID warriors-have plunged themselves in line of fire to keep the population safe and alive. Around 87,000 healthcare workers (HCWs) have been infected and 573 have died till August in India alone. With no sight of pandemic ebbing anytime soon and patient load in hospitals refusing to come down, combat fatigue has set in these HCWs. The very people whose life mission is caring for others are on the verge of collective collapse physically and emotionally. There is an urgent need to retrospect the problems faced by the HCWs in the previous months, recognize, and preventive measures initiated at the earliest to prevent further loss and burnout among these battle-hardened frontline soldiers.