Coronavirus: Volunteer returning medic John Kyle, 68, not yet called up

Last month, amid grave fears that the virus might overwhelm the NHS as had been the case in parts of Italy, the retired east Belfast GP an Belfast councillor for the PUP responded to an appeal for retired medics to return.

At the time Dr Kyle told the BBC: “I just wanted to help in whatever way I could...I did have to talk it through with my wife; we did need to think about it. There’s an element of apprehension in it, but no, I wasn’t reluctant; I thought ‘this is the right thing to do’.”

However, a month on and in the peak of the first wave of the pandemic, Dr Kyle has not yet been called upon.

According to figures from the Department of Health there were 1,665 hospital beds empty last Thursday, the most recent date for which figures are available.

Dr Kyle told the News Letter: “Actually there hasn’t been the shortage of medical personnel feared so I am still on the reserve list.

“That’s partly because at my age they won’t take me – at least at the moment – back on to the front line. They had expected more doctors to go off ill and more patients to be in hospital than has been the case.

“So if you ask most doctors they would say ‘we’re coping quite well at the moment’.

“However, it is demanding from a psychological point of view, recognising the inherent danger to the medical profession and their health.”

Dr Kyle, who was widely praised for his willingness to return to medicine despite his age making him more vulnerable to the virus, said that was “still very willing to help out”.