- Industry
- 2 min read
Delhi: Seniors fight off virus, kin don’t want them back
Covid-19 frightens people, there is no doubt about that. But it seems, some families are so unnerved by the thought of having corona patients at home, even if recovered, that they are refusing to allow even elderly relatives to return home from hospital.
Suresh Kumar, medical director, Lok Nayak Hospital, confirmed this incident to TOI. “We hoped the sons would take the man home, but they didn’t,” Kumar said. After waiting for over 10 days, the hospital shifted the person to a government Covid care facility in Narela where he is currently staying in a space separately created for him.
The septuagenarian developed fever on June 22 and was taken to a government testing centre by his kin. Two days later, the test results returned positive. When his condition deteriorated, given his vulnerability, he was brought to Lok Nayak Hospital on June 26. “He is a positive person and bravely fought the infection,” a hospital official said. “He recovered in the first week of July, and requested the hospital staff to contact his sons so that he could be taken home.”
The family’s reluctance left the father emotionally shocked. The case underlined the bias against those who have recovered from Covid-19. “The sons said that they did not have space at home. We informed them that he was fully recovered and did not need isolation and also that he wouldn’t infect others, but they said they would not let him enter the house and asked the hospital to send him somewhere for at least a month more,” said a hospital official.
The father was desperate to meet his sons. “We requested them to come and meet their father, but they did not come even for that,” the official claimed. “The elder son said the younger son would take him home, while the younger said the elder would do it.”
Lok Nayak Hospital, Delhi government’s largest Covid health facility, did not share the personal details of the person. The hospital, however, informed police on Tuesday night and has submitted the patient’s address to them.
Another hospital official confided that there were at least three other cases of elderly patients being let down by their kin and of a family that refused to accept the body of a 65-year-old, requesting the hospital itself to cremate the body. “Many families do not care enough to talk to the elderly patients on phone while they are in hospital,” a hospital employee alleged.
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