Dubai: A blue tulip welcomed Dr Mayella Montemar as she left the hospital ward. Passing by the corridor, with her kids in tow, colleagues of various nationalities came cheering and giving her more flowers, a warm hug or gentle embrace.
Underneath the face mask, her sweet smile had unmistakably returned. After almost five months battling COVID-19, the 40-year old Filipina resident doctor (Obstetrics & Gynaecology) at Aster Sanad Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, had been cured. But not without a big loss. While she was in the ICU, her husband, Sheridan Chan Montemar, 40 another medical frontliner who also got the deadly virus, died last year, leaving her with three young kids.
A frontline doctor who helped treat COVID-19 patients in Saudi Arabia before contracting the virus herself; has left hospital after a five-month battle