Proud husband posts pictures of consultant wife in full PPE

The husband of an intensive care consultant has spoken of his pride in his wife after she stayed in hospital to look after dying Covid-19 patients even after finishing a 14-hour shift.

Josh Dhaliwal posted photos on LinkedIn of his wife, Dr Rosie Kalsi, 42, wearing her full personal protective equipment (PPE) which is required for her work at the Royal Hampshire Hospital in Winchester.

Commenting on the photos, which have been viewed millions of times, he said: “To underline the commitment of all NHS staff to the patients in their care – my wife just phoned, 14 hours after she left for work this morning to say she won’t be home tonight because she’s on call and can’t leave the patients (some of whom won’t survive the night).

“I asked if she’d eaten and she told me not since the toast and coffee she had for breakfast.”

He added: “To all those who have expressed concern that my wife might still not be eating on these long shifts – there has been an influx of donations from individuals, businesses and supermarkets that’s included soup, biscuits, pizzas, takeaways, cakes and snack bars.

“The canteen is also now serving hot meals to medics on duty throughout the day.”

The photos posted by Mr Dhaliwal, a media sales manager, from Michelmersh, near Winchester, have now been viewed 2.5 million times with 67,000 likes and thousands of comments.

He told PA: “I posted the photos out of pride for my wife.

“She had shared a couple of photos of herself in her PPE and I thought it was like ‘Wow, this is what you do at work’, that this is the level of protection when dealing with Covid-19 patients.

“It’s her job and she just gets on with it but I don’t think she appreciates the risk associated with doing her job.

“She doesn’t get stressed, it’s part and parcel of her job, she’s programmed with death and disease on a daily basis, it’s just magnified at the moment, massively.”

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