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The dedicated doctor is backing the Daily Express campaign for a lasting memorial to honour heroic NHS workers who died during the service’s greatest health emergency.

Dr Kumar, 34, currently chief registrar at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust, said: “We have all gone through different emotions with each wave. The first was a huge shock and we were dealing with a lot of uncertainty.

“At the same time, we felt enthusiastic about tackling it – we felt like we were doing something heroic and the public sentiment echoed that.

“All specialty training for junior doctors like myself was on hold. I had to focus on the pandemic alone. It was concerning for me as I was seeing colleagues and doctors becoming unwell too.

“In the second wave and going into a third wave, everyone was just feeling exhausted.”

She added: “It has taken a toll on everyone. We’re a caring profession and this is our calling, but it’s really challenging seeing people my age or younger than me coming in so unwell and having to go into intensive care. I once saw a 21-year-old with no other health problems who didn’t make it.

“Just this weekend I saw a lot of people coming in with Covid again. We’re not over it and it’s really shocking. It’s difficult when we’re under increasing pressure to take care of our other patients who are waiting for routine appointments and surgeries.

“If another peak happens we’ll have to push everything back again.”

Dr Kumar also fears that pausing training during each virus wave will slow the rate of doctors progressing to become consultants.

See the latest Covid vaccine stats below and visit InYourArea for all the Covid vaccine latest

Her parents, who also work for the NHS, live in Leicester and she formed a Covid bubble with them. But she found the ban on visiting her beloved grandparents in southern India tough.

She said: “I have visited them most summers since my childhood. But due to the pandemic, I was unable to travel. I unfortunately lost my grandfather earlier this year and couldn’t attend his funeral as it was during the peak of the second wave. It was challenging emotionally not being able to see him before he died.

“Some of my family became very unwell with Covid during the recent peak in India and their struggles were a timely reminder of how incredibly fortunate we are to have the NHS.”

In her non-clinic time, Dr Kumar is responsible for coordinating a team to provide emergency care for those who are admitted, managing unwell patients out of hours and working closely with on-call consultants to decide what to do next.

The Daily Express is proud to back the Memorial for NHS Heroes campaign for a 20ft bronze sculpture set to be unveiled in central London next year. It will carry the names of every frontline worker who died during the pandemic.

Through our crusade, we are asking readers to dig deep to raise £250,000 to make the project a reality.

It’s really challenging seeing people my age or younger than me coming in so unwell and having to go into intensive care

Dr Vaishnavi Kumar

Two intertwined trees with hundreds of hand-sculpted leaves will be featured, along with catkins that chime in the wind and roots tumbling down over bronze rocks, representing eternal life.

Workers will be remembered with the inscription: “You laid your love for those in life. Your sleep is not in vain.”

Equally significant sculptures will be unveiled in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Dr Kumar said of the memorial: “I hope it stands as a piece of important history that encapsulates the bravery and courage of our NHS staff.

“Honouring each and every brave individual is tremendous and hopefully offers some solace to their families.

“In terms of a name, the word fortitude really stands out for me as a good description. A Latin phrase might be quite fitting as a lot of medical terms have Latin origins.”

‘Tony’s left a huge hole in our lives’

Ambulance technician Tony Chadbourne devoted 23 years to serving the NHS in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

The 46-year-old — also known as Chad — died just before Christmas. His family said: “Nothing was too much trouble for Tony, whose huge heart meant he went above and beyond for his patients, colleagues and friends.”

Workmate Alastair Smith said: “Chad leaves a huge hole in mine and many others’ lives.

“While I know his mum and brother are distraught, they are both immensely proud of Tony’s achievements.”

He added that Tony was famous for getting stuck on a London-bound train while assisting a patient – with his kit on the platform at Newark.

Alastair said: “I will never forget the giggles that came from Chad when he told me he was in Grantham and had to catch the next train back. His colleagues never allowed him to forget this incident.”

‘I thought he was going to get better’

Orthopaedic implant coordinator Dax Daantos worked alongside his wife at London’s Charing Cross Hospital.

Dax died aged 52, leaving behind intensive care nurse Arlene and their children Jozeph, 15, and Daxene, 12.

Arlene said her husband was “scared” when she spoke to him over the phone.

He told her, “I can’t breathe or talk much anymore” before he was put on a ventilator.

She said “He opened his eyes, I talked to him, I think he could hear me but he was sedated and that was the last time I spoke to him.

“We didn’t expect it. I thought he was going to get better.”

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