How Ufa Doctors Spend New Year's Eve on Duty

Not everyone celebrates holidays with family — for some, they pass at work. As a rule, New Year«s Eve is a day off for the vast majority of people, but there are professions where being at work when the clock strikes midnight is a sacred duty. These include, for example, law enforcement officers, rescuers, and medical workers — all of them are on standby to rush off and save someone. UFA1.RU spoke with doctors at Ufa hospitals and learned how they celebrated New Year on duty. At the request of the individuals, their names have been changed and their workplaces are not specified.

Our first interviewee is cardiologist Marat. For almost 10 years now, he has been treating people«s hearts — literally.

«Well, how do we celebrate New Year... probably like all people. We try to gather together, those working the shift, to set a table. You could say, like a family, only a work one,» Marat said.

At the same time, he notes that it«s not always possible to do so, because late at night a patient might suddenly be brought in or, worse, one of those already admitted might take a turn for the worse. But often, medics still manage to gather.

«Of course, our colleagues have had to save someone on the night of December 31st to January 1st, but personally, during the chimes, fortunately, that has never happened to me. I hope everyone stays alive and well,» the cardiologist added.

The second interviewee has a job no less difficult and responsible — Damir is a surgeon with 20 years of experience. More than once he has celebrated New Year not just at work — but in the operating room. He recalled a case from several years ago: due to a patient«s pathology, they had to operate on an emergency basis (»for vital indications«). That is, the patient»s life was in danger.

«The difficulty was that the patient had several diseases complicating the main one. The operation lasted a little over an hour. At the same time, another team was working — they labored for more than three hours. Not only surgeons are involved in interventions: an anesthesiologist, operating nurse, anesthetist, orderly,» Damir explained.

After the operation, work continues — they need to fill out documents or admit emergency patients who come to the reception area. His main specialty is gastrointestinal diseases, but sometimes he has to work with trauma cases.

«Gastrointestinal diseases don»t decrease during the New Year holidays. If compared to previous years, the dynamics are stable, at the same level, and relative to normal times there are slightly more,« the surgeon said.

Having spent midnight in the operating room, Damir says: for them there is no holiday or day off, it«s a workday first and foremost. In the morning, they congratulated each other on the holidays and went home — our hero»s family was waiting for him there.

«I»d like to note that there are many hospitals across Bashkortostan, where colleagues also work and provide medical care, and few talk about this,« the doctor added.

Medics are not the only ones who celebrate New Year and other holidays on shift. Read the story of an oil worker who works shifts in KhMAO (Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug).