August 2006, in the South of France, while speaking to Jake Shears of Scissor Sister's, legendary musician Elton John said, "Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours."
And he was so right.
As the world over fights a lethal pandemic with health workers, frontline workers serving selflessly, a few moments, off the rules, off the duty are truly moments of relief.
On Wednesday, Dr. Dipshikha Ghosh practicing critical COVID care took to Twitter to share a heartfelt story of a dying patient's son who wanted to speak to her mother one last time.
"Today, towards the end of my shift, I video called the relatives of a patient who is not going to make it. We usually do that in my hospital if it's something they want. This patient's son asked for a few minutes of my time. He then sang a song for his dying mother." Ghosh wrote on the microblogging site.
She added, "He sang Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle Ka Nata Koi. I just stood there holding the phone, looking at him looking at his mother and singing. The nurses came over and stood in silence. He broke down in the middle but finished the verse. He asked her vitals, thanked me and hung up."
Final goodbyes made hard
Due to the heavy viral load in a patient's body and the severity of contagion, most families aren't even allowed to bid a farewell to their loved ones. In certain cases, the possibility of getting to say the last few words is a rare chance. In such a scenario, a phone call or video call is a patient's final solace.
"Me and the nurses stood there. We shake our heads, our eyes moist. The nurses went back one by one to their allocated patients and attended to them or the alarms of vents/dialysis units. This song is changed for us, for me at least. This song will always be theirs." Ghosh ended her note with this final tweet.
As a response to her tweet, another doctor Jamy Koshy replied, "The mother may have heard and understood, familiar music in a familiar voice can reach us even at the end. Bless you for giving the son and the mother a few moments to show their love, and for the son to find closure. You did the best possible, given the awful circumstances."
