Turkish healthcare workers mark New Year’s Eve on duty

Istanbul, Jan 1 : A Christmas tree made of surgical gloves decorated the intensive care unit of a pandemic hospital here on New Year’s Eve.
Gloves with New Year’s wishes on were inflated like balloons and attached to the pole of an IV drip.
“Life without distance,” “life without masks,” and “happiness” were among the most catching desires of the healthcare workers in Feriha Oz Emergency Hospital located in the Asian part of Istanbul.
The hospital with a total of 1,008 beds was built in 2020 to treat specifically Covid-19 patients, Xinhua reported.
Sultan Bayindir, an intensive care unit nurse of the hospital, started her 24-hour-shift on Thursday by taking good care of her patients as usual in the D1 ward, where severely ill Covid-19 patients are treated.
“Everyone wants to be with his or her loved ones on special days like New Year’s Eve,” Bayindir told Xinhua while examining the oxygen saturation values of one of her patients. “But we have a mission here, and we are not alone, having our colleagues and patients with us.”