HOW I WAS HUMBLED BY MALARIA.

“Do Doctors fall sick?”

“How come Doctors fall sick?”

These are the usual comments I get, when I have to, albeit reluctantly, tell someone that I have fallen sick. It becomes even more embarrassing when I have to tell them it is due to “common Malaria”.

” But You should know what to take, or are you not a Doctor?”

Yes, I know I am a Doctor. Yes, I know some people consider us superhuman – We know everything about diseases – All the tricks and methods of illnesses are at our fingertips – How then, can they harm us?

If, in the unlikely? event that a Doctor falls sick, then surely, it must be due to something really terrible, worse than HIV or Cancer, and , tongue twisting too like Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma… not Malaria… common Malaria, caused by a little Mosquito.

MALARIA IS NOT JUST “COMMON”, MOSQUITOS ARE NOT JUST “LITTLE”.

As I lay down, drenched in my own sweat – too weak to stand or walk, Unable to eat anything, a drip delivering fluid into my veins, I made a mental note – The next set of patients I would see having Malaria would have special attention.

No more will I look at them as if they just came to disturb my peace, no more will I roll up my eyes when they say they are too weak to go to work – MALARIA IS A SERIOUS ILLNESS!

I have developed a new found respect for Malaria, Malaria is no respecter of person, position, or status. Mosquitos also.

And by the way, there are Mosquitos in Kings Palaces.

How has Malaria humbled you? I would really like to know.

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