Dr. Khitam Hussein is leading the coronavirus response at Ramban Medical Center in Haifa since the pandemic began several months ago. The intensity of the work has meant 12-hour days for her.

“It is incredibly difficult work, no day is like another,” Hussein, 44, told AFP. “Our lives have been turned upside down.”

She told AFP of a sad moment when the condition of an elderly man worsened and the staff decided it was important to allow his wife, also ill with the coronavirus, to say goodbye.

“We allowed his sick wife, despite her condition, to speak to her husband — to say goodbye,” Hussein told AFP. “As a human it’s difficult, all the medical staff were saddened.”

Hussein grew up in the Israeli-Arab town of Ramah and currently lives in Karmiel, a half-hour away from Haifa.

Hussein has avoided visiting her elderly mother in recent months due to the risk of spreading the virus. She barely even sees her two daughters, ages 8 and 10, due to her long hours.

“I arrive late most of the time when they are already asleep but sometimes they wait up for me. I have stopped myself from seeing my parents, but I couldn’t stop seeing my daughters. I cannot describe how I miss them [when I am at the hospital].”

Hussein’s daughters are staying home with her husband who is a lawyer but it seems like they still miss their mother. Hussein described one instance when her daughter called her in the middle of a shift.

“She was crying on the phone, saying ‘I miss you, when are you coming home?'” Hussein said. “For a few minutes, I thought I would collapse. Then I gathered myself and went back to work.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)