A LEADING Bradford doctor has reflected on working on the frontline during some of the toughest years the NHS has ever had to face.

Professor Dinesh Saralaya, consultant respiratory physician at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, spoke to the Telegraph & Argus to mark the two-year anniversary of the first national lockdown.

In that time, he has seen some of the city’s sickest patients and experienced first-hand the devastation wrought by the virus.

The impact of Covid-19 has been deeply felt in Bradford and Prof Saralaya said it had been a “cruel lesson” which had put the spotlight on deep health inequalities which must be addressed.

Two years on, Covid patients are still being admitted to Bradford Royal Infirmary – the latest figures show 43 people were receiving treatment - but the picture is hugely different from those terrifying early days.

“The type of patients we are seeing now is vastly different to what we saw in the first and second waves,” said Prof Saralaya.

“The patients we are seeing now have a milder severity of illness because they are mostly vaccinated.

“Unfortunately, the people who are desperately sick remain the ones who have not had a single dose of the Covid vaccine.”

In the early days of the pandemic, horrific images coming from Italy were a stark warning of what could happen here. Would the NHS be able to cope?

The hospital prepared for the Covid surge by carrying out a mock drill on March 20 – three days before the country was plunged into lockdown.

“It was horrendous because the sort of patients we were seeing were desperately ill,” said Prof Saralaya.

“The single important factor for risk of coming with serious illness was age, we were seeing a lot of elderly people coming to hospital and sadly succumbing to Covid.”

Prof Saralaya said they were desperate and anxious times as sicker patients were being admitted to the hospital every day.

At its worst point, the hospital was caring for more than 170 virus patients.

It was a relentless battle for staff, working long, gruelling shifts in full PPE, as they watched Covid take the lives of people in their care, while facing the prospect of being struck down by the virus themselves.

For Prof Saralaya, seeing patients dying without their relatives was one of the hardest moments.

Those recollections are all the more poignant today - the National Day of Reflection.

“I remember seeing a very old lady and I had to hold her hand because her family couldn’t be around her,” he said.

“To see that old lady die in front of me brought a tear to my eye.I would describe that as one of the lowest points in my entire medical career.”

Amid extreme lows, there were also moments which broke through the darkness.

One of those was an 18-year-old girl on the brink of death, who was able to go home after taking part in a Covid treatment trial.

Bradford played a huge role in recruiting people, particularly those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, into vital vaccine and treatment trials which have made a big difference, something Prof Saralaya is hugely proud of.

He said the pandemic had made him realise “the human race is very vulnerable”.

“We have many things under our control, yet we have many other things not under our control.

“This was a classic example. I think we need to rise up to this challenge. The healthcare inequalities that Covid exposed need to be addressed, we need to enhance the life and wellbeing of our population so they are less vulnerable. In a city like Bradford we know certain postcodes in Bradford, the survival is far less than if you live in an affluent postcode.”

He added: “The lessons that we’ve learnt from Covid, the speed at which we ran the treatment trials, the vaccine trials, will keep us in very good stead for a future pandemic. These pandemics are bound to come again, hopefully not in our lifetime, but future generations need to watch out.”

Prof Saralaya said: “I’ve been very proud to work in a city like Bradford, but the city has also suffered greatly.

"I think it’s very important that we wake up the realities of what we lack in the city and address them.

"The pandemic has been a cruel lesson to many parts of our system so it’s very important we wake up to that reality as well, but equally we need to laud the excellent work that has been done across the city and I think Bradford should be very proud of itself.”