JAIPUR: When his mother died, nurse Ram Murti Meena was at work at SMS Hospital’s coronavirus isolation ward. He saw the last rites being performed on a video call on his mobile phone. “Certainly, it was a painful thing for me to skip the funeral of my mother, who died at the age of 93,” he says. “I was on duty as the nursing incharge of the isolation ward on March 30 when she passed away. I saw my mother’s face for the last time on video call,” Meena remembers.“My father and three elder brothers performed the last rites and I attended through video call. At this time of pandemic, attending to patients is the most important thing,” he says. He remained busy with his work till April 3, when he was sent into quarantine. The government hospital in Jaipur switches isolation ward staff, placing those who have put in some time there into quarantine as a precautionary measure.Meena says being in isolation is not easy and the staff has to take care of the patients’ emotional well-being. “We too are exposed to infection and therefore we also live life in isolation. It is a challenging time for all,” he says.