Dr Susy Hota was in her residency training in internal medicine at the University of Toronto when she saw an email alert about a cluster of undiagnosed pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. It was the end of December 2019 in the middle of a harsh winter in Canada's commercial capital. "I remember seeing a ProMed-mail," says Dr Hota about the early warning system of the non-profit International Society for Infectious Diseases.
The alert mentioned nine cases in Wuhan. "It was always sounding concerning to me, and I quickly emailed my emergency department lead about the ProMed-mail," recalls Dr Hota, who was then specialising in infectious diseases at the University of Toronto. Within weeks, it would become clear to Canadian epidemiologists like Dr Hota that the mysterious illness was not going away anytime soon and it would come to their own country.
Epidemiologist Dr Susy Hota.
Dr Hota, a second-generation Indian-Canadian, is among the several young medical professionals from Canada's large South Asian diaspora at the forefront of the North American nation's response to the coronavirus pandemic. In Toronto, the country's most populous city, doctors and nurses from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan form a sizeable number of frontline warriors, working every day to protect the people.
Like many other countries, the pandemic stretched medical facilities to the limit in Toronto and the Ontario province in which it falls, leading to lockdown restrictions to contain the virus. "We had to cancel surgeries and scheduled care," says Dr Hota, a member of the Ontario Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee and Medical Director (Infection Prevention and Control) at University of Toronto's department of medicine. "My initial work was around hospital preparedness and response," she adds.
Born in Canada to parents from Cuttack, Odisha, who came to Canada as immigrants in the 1960s, Dr Hota understands the wide ethnic and racial disparities that make South Asians vulnerable to the virus. Some of the highest number of positive cases in Ontario have been recorded in places like Brampton and Scarborough, both of which have a large South Asian population.
Vaccine hesitancy among South Asians is a serious challenge many medical professionals and social workers from the community are willing to take head on. Early this year, Viresh Fernando, a well-known lawyer in Toronto, sat in a 30-minute programme on a popular Sri Lankan television channel to talk to Sinhalese speakers in Canada about the advantages of vaccinating themselves against Covid-19.
Colombo-born lawyer Viresh Fernando.
"It was a non-medical talk about why I took the vaccine," says the Colombo-born Fernando, a familiar face at charities that support disadvantaged members of the South Asian diaspora. "I told my community in Canada that I was protecting my family and friends by protecting myself," adds Fernando, who persuaded an Indian-origin doctor to join him on the programme to explain the efficacy of vaccines. First aired on the Kala Kavya channel in April, the programme was repeated 12 times over the next two months for the national audience.
Fernando, who lives in Thorncliffe Park, a low-income neighbourhood in Toronto where most of its inhabitants are first-generation immigrants from India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Pakistan, believes he was able to reassure his community challenged by vaccine hesitancy. "South Asian community members say when one of their own talks to them in Punjabi, Bengali or Urdu, they feel confident," says the lawyer, who volunteers four times a week for a soup kitchen in downtown Toronto.
Dr Adil Shamji, an emergency physician and Fernando's fellow speaker on the Sri Lankan television channel, says the South Asian community has stepped up during the pandemic. "Our community has demonstrated leadership not only in medicine as doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists, but also in social sectors to help the needy," says Dr Shamji, who was born in Canada to Gujarati immigrant parents from East Africa.
Dr Adil Shamji
"My parents came to Canada for opportunities and success. It is a reflection of our family values in South Asia that we give back. One of the reasons why South Asian parents encourage their children to find success in health care is because of their desire to give back to the society," says Dr Shamji, who divides his time between his duties as emergency physician at the Michael Garron Hospital and Medical Director of the Enhanced Shelter Support Programme for homeless people. "In every culture, there are people who have done well and there are people who are struggling."
Canada has had 1.4 million Covid-19 cases so far, a third of them in Ontario province. Nearly 26,000 people have lost their lives. The new cases have come down to about 800 per day. A high 65.4 per cent of the country's 37.7 million population have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccines. A whopping 35.8 million tests have been completed so far.
Dr Shamji, who traces his family roots to Mota Devaliya village in Amreli district of Gujarat, says one of the biggest challenges during the pandemic is caring for the homeless. "We created eight new shelters in Toronto to provide health care support to the homeless and refugees," says Dr Shamji, whose sister is a nurse in Toronto. "They were in a very vulnerable position," says the young doctor, who is also part of vaccination drives among immigrants, one of which saw more than 10,000 doses administered in a single day.
Uzma Irfan
In Malton, Mississauga and Brampton cities in Ontario, Pakistani-Canadian social worker Uzma Irfan would pack her car's boot with groceries and wellness kits containing sanitisers, yoga mats and crossword puzzles every day for the elderly population. "We wanted to connect with the people, especially the seniors, to educate them how to take care of themselves during the pandemic," says Irfan, Executive Director of Malton Women Council.
Irfan and other social workers gave the seniors laptops and taught them how to attend Zoom sessions. "You are living alone, but we are there for you round the clock was our message," she says. In building blocks where the seniors lived, it was also important to educate them about vaccination. "Intergenerational activities to connect with their children was vital," adds Irfan.
"People are happy with our nursing care," says Obaid Pial, who works as a nurse at the emergency ward of Toronto's Michael Garron hospital. "It is challenging," adds Pial, who was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Last Friday, Ontario began a three-phase easing of lockdown restrictions. "Finally things are beginning to improve," says Dr Shamji, sounding optimistic about the future after months of immeasurable suffering for the people. "It has been a period of many pandemics."
