Women scientists and doctors at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic, are celebrating their collective achievements on International Women’s Day by recounting their stories.

Recollecting the time when she was busy isolating the virus when it first hit the country and then getting fully involved in vaccine development, Pragya Yadav, Scientist ‘F’ and Group Leader, Maximum Containment Laboratory, Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology, said, “the amount of work which we did in these two years, people do it in their whole professional life span. It was emotionally overwhelming, physically taxing but at the same time a great learning experience as a scientist.” Yadav takes pride in the fact that she could contribute to the vaccine development in India. 

A mother of two teen-aged children, Yadav had to work long hours in the lab, away from her family for many days together because of the risk of exposure to infection. “Whatever we could achieve it’s because of great team spirit, hard work of many scientists, technical and support staff, administrative  support from NIV Director and Secretary, Department of Health Research and Director General, ICMR,” Yadav said. 

Building capacity

India had very few testing laboratories when Coronavirus was making its way in the country in 2020.

Recounting the initial 8-10 months when she was busy building up testing capacity, Dr Nivedita Gupta, Head of Virology at ICMR, New Delhi, said, “it was quite a stressful time as we were importing testing kits that time. I encouraged domestic manufacturers to come up with our own testing kits. It was the first time that I had to develop diagnostic protocols for the clearance of those testing kits. We also had very few RT PCR labs, augmenting that capacity was a challenge before us.”

Gupta was also a part of the vaccine development team at ICMR. Also a mother of two children, she says that women can deliver in the field of science and technology well, if they learn to manage their time well and brush up their multi-tasking skills.

Meanwhile, Dr Monalisa Sahu, Consultant Infectious Diseases, Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad said, she voluntarily chose to not take any leave during April-June last year when the Covid pandemic was at its peak. “It was my moral duty as a doctor to serve the patients. I worked 14-15 hours every day for three months non-stop last year. At home, I had to be in isolation so that my nine-year old daughter could be saved from catching infection,” Sahu added. 

“As women we have to do multitasking. Women should take care of themselves by having proper diet, exercises and rest to deal with such a crisis,” she further said.

Sharing her experience, Doli Biswas, Chief Nursing Officer at Fortis Hospital Kolkata said Covid 19 pandemic was a very new and a  lifetime experience to her. “I willingly did not take any leave during all the three waves. During the third wave,  my husband had to undergo coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. It was really tough for me to balance the whole situation. On one hand I had my ailing husband in hospital, a child at home and my job on the other hand. I received  support from the organization and colleagues to overcome all challenges,” Biswas stated.

According to Aparna Mukherjee, a New Delhi-based Senior Scientist at ICMR, women who want to make a career in science and medicine can have a smoother journey if they have a good family support as many years go into intensive studies, preparatory work and research. “During Covid I had the full support of my in laws so I could easily manage working long hours during Covid,” she said.

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