Dr. Mohamed Salah Siala, 25, has been working on the new coronavirus (COVID-19) front line at Hedi Chaker Hospital in Sfax, Tunisia since January 2021. To help his patients deal with the ordeal, he regularly plays the violin for them.
Aside from being a medical doctor, Siala is also a member of a group called the Pepper Band. He told Associated Press that his goal is to use music to help treat COVID-19 patients that are “in a bad psychological condition, suffering loneliness, which is their first enemy.”
“He plays to entertain us a little bit almost every day,” the publication quoted Hedi Chaker Hospital patient Brika Sdiri as saying. “I pray to God to protect him and I wish you all that God protect you from this disease. I hope to get out of this place in good health. That’s what I wish.”
Siala is a multi-instrumentalist. Aside from the violin, he also plays the saxophone, the guitar and the piano.
On February 14, 2021, Siala played the violin through the corridors of Hedi Chaker Hospital. He serenaded not only the patients but also his fellow employees in the hospital.
In Sfax, three more COVID-19 fatalities were reported on February 18, 2021, which increased the death toll to 598 since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to Tunis Afrique Presse. Based on the latest data obtained from the Sfax Local Health Directorate, 291 conducted screening tests were conducted and 83 further infections were reported in the governorate.
Currently, there are 16 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units in Sfax while 75 are in the COVID units and 34 in private health facilities. So far, a total of 21,409 infections and 19,885 recoveries have been reported in the governorate.
As of February 22, 2021, there have been 228,362 COVID-19 cases in Tunisia. A total of 7,793 died due to the virus and 188,607 have recovered from it.
