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Anaemia primary cause of 3-year-old Covid patient’s death in Ludhiana: Civil surgeon
A team of doctors conducted a review and established that the girl died of acute anaemia; her parents have been tested and found negative for Covid
A day after a three-year-old Covid patient died, health authorities confirmed acute anaemia as the cause of death.
Civil surgeon Dr Kiran Ahluwallia Gill said a team of doctors conducted a review and established that the girl, Mansi, died of acute anaemia. However, as she was also Covid positive, she was buried following safety protocols on Saturday evening.
She added that the child’s parents had been tested and found negative for the virus.
Unable to come to terms with the loss of his youngest child, Ram Kumar, 27, who hails from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and lives in Harbanspura, also has his depleted bank balance riding heavy on his mind.
The tragedy-struck family spent all their savings in just a week since the child was found positive on May 8.
“I used to earn ₹9,000 a month at a shop, but lost my job two months ago amid the pandemic. My savings were not enough for my daughter’s treatment, so donations from philanthropists helped raise ₹1.67 lakh, but still she could not be saved,” said an inconsolable Kumar.
“Her health deteriorated on May 8 and through some tests we learnt that her haemoglobin had dropped, which had resulted in water retention and swelling. I took her to Krishna Charitable Hospital, where she tested positive for Covid, which rose the treatment cost,” he added.
“On Saturday morning, she was arm wrestling with me and asked me and my wife for toffees. We were hoping that she will be discharged soon, but suddenly her condition worsened and she passed away in front of our eyes,” the distraught father rued.
Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at the crematorium in Civil Lines where the three-year-old was buried in the presence of her parents and her five-year-old brother, who kept trying to rush towards his younger sister’s body wrapped in a protective suit.
Burying a three-year-old was possibly the most difficult task he had ever performed, said Mandeep Kumar Guddu, a worker at the crematorium, who has performed over 1,000 last rites.
