On The Front Lines

A testimony to the coronavirus crisis from the ICU.

On February 27, 2020, the first coronavirus case is detected in a Spanish intensive care unit. Gabriel Heras, one of the doctors on duty, lived through the outbreak of the disease and its most acute stages. This is his tale from the front lines of one of the deadliest wars we have seen in recent decades. The testimony of a professional devoted to saving his patients’ lives with scarce resources and staff and little knowledge of the nature of the virus.

In pages rife with tension and fear, but also with hope and companionship, Heras offers an example of workers’ ability to strive and overcome the cluelessness and inhumanity of those responsible for managing the worst healthcare crisis in Spanish history. At the same time, his tale brings to light the weaknesses of a system that requires profound changes to adapt to the realities of the twenty-first century and guarantee citizens’ wellbeing. “With this crisis, we’ve realized that Spain doesn’t have the best healthcare system in the world, but it does have the best professionals,” Heras declares.