Gujarat Covid-19 patient shares her hospital experience

<br>Speaking to IANS, a 34-year-old female patient, who had travel history from Finland said, “I returned from Finland on March 12 and got admitted in the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Hospital in Ahmedabad after I had fever for four days.”

She said she got admitted in the hospital on March 18 and was tested positive for the Covid-19 on March 20.

She was the second patient in Gujarat, who was discharged from hospital and now she is staying at her home and has quarantined herself for next few weeks.

Sharing her experience of staying in the government hospital, she said that after returning from Finland, she had very mild symptoms of Covid-19, thus she connected with the doctor at the SVP hospital.

She said: “I called Dr Meemansha Chug on March 16 after I felt a slight cough and a little tightness in the chest. The symptoms were mild but I still called Meemansa and she told me to come meet her at SVP hospital. I wore my mask, drove down alone again and went to meet her. She examined my chest, I had slight wheezing and I was told to get tested for Covid-19.”

“The doctor after checking me, asked me to get admitted in the hospital as I had mild symptoms of the Covid-19. I was immediately shifted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital. I was a bit nervous to get admitted on the same day as I didn’t carry any extra clothes with me in the hospital,” she said.

She said that there were four to five more Covid-19 suspects in the ward at the SVP hospital.

“Little did I know that two from amongst us, were going to be the first two cases of Covid-19 from Ahmedabad,” she said.

Narrating her experience of the hospital facilities, she said that the doctors and nursing staff were all very helpful in treating me and other patients there. “They didn’t discriminate among patients and answered all our queries,” she said.

“Even the quality of food provided to us was very good and it changed my perception of the facilities of the government hospitals,” she said.

When asked if the Chief Minister, ever interacted with her, she replied, “Rupani sir interacted with me twice and assured me that best of facilities will be provided to all the patients admitted in the government hospitals.”

The Chief Minister interacted to me through video conferencing and also hailed the doctors and hospital staff, calling them the first line defence for fighting Covid-19 and said that they were doing fabulous job.

“The Chief Minister also assured me that I will get well very soon,” she recalled.

She said on the day of her discharge from the hospital, the Chief Minister again interacted with me and asked me to follow the precautions advised by the doctors.

She said, once I was tested positive for Covid-19, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation reached my home and interacted with my family.

“They explained to my family that they will have to stay in home quarantine,” she said, adding that even the complete building including her bedroom and home was sanitized by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

She said, the state government also provided food to our family so that none of our family members had to go out to buy the grocery items.

The 34-year old, has three family members including her mother, father and a sister.

When asked about the behaviour of people towards her, when she returned from the hospital, the 34-year old said, “Every person of our society welcomed me. They applauded me and I didn’t feel any kind of objection from them.”

“The people were happy that I got treated properly at the government hospital,” she said, recalling her return to home.

On Thursday, the total number of Covid-19 in Gujarat was 89 with seven deaths.

Out of these patients, seven have died and 10 discharged after recovery. The remaining 72 are still undergoing treatment, the state health department officials said.

Till date, 31 cases have been reported from Ahmedabad, followed by 12 in Surat, 10 in Rajkot, nine in Vadodara, seven in Bhavnagar, three from Porbandar, two from Gir and Somnath, and one each from Kutch, Mehsana and Panchmahal districts.

(Anand singh can be contacted at Anand.s@ians.in)

–IANS<br>aks/skp/