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Humanity thrives in the face of Covid crisis
Doctors, nurses at Ambala civil hospital bring homemade food for 65-year-old patient, a Tablighi Jamaat attendee from Nepal
Thousand kilometers away from his home in Nepal, Mohammad Bhoj Ray spent 11 days at the Ambala civil hospital before he tested negative for Covid-19 in subsequent reports and got discharged on Saturday.
The 65-year-old man had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi last month, and was admitted to the isolation ward after he was found to be infected.
Though meals to several patients and their attendants were being provided through a food bank set up by an NGO, its services were suspended during the initial days of the local outbreak.
At that time, doctors and nurses rose to the occasion and brought homemade food for Ray, said civil hospital senior medical officer Dr Sheelkant Pajni.
“As he didn’t have an operational mobile phone, the medics on duty would even lend him their phones to contact his family in Nepal or friends in Ambala,” he added.
In March, Ray, along with his friends, had travelled from Beergunj in Nepal to Nizamuddin Markaz for the first time. After spending a week in Delhi, he proceeded to Ambala. On March 31, the local administration traced at least three dozen jamaat attendees and asked them to isolate themselves inside mosques where they had been putting up.
Dr Tulit Chhabra, a general surgeon at the civil hospital, who was the first to examine Ray, said, “About 15 people were lodged in a masjid in cantonment, three of whom showed flu-like symptoms, including Ray.”
They were brought to the hospital, where two of them were found infected, he added.
“Ray, whose age made him more vulnerable to complications, was already missing his family. From taking care of his diet to helping him in speaking with his family and friends, the hospital staff did everything possible for his quick recovery,” SMO Pajni said.
Being a senior citizen, he panicked often, but our doctors counselled him regularly, he added.
Ray is, however, one of the nine foreigners booked under the Foreigners Act besides sections of the IPC. Ambala SP Abhishek Jorwal said, “He has now been quarantined at a school in cantonment. The decision on his deportation will be taken after his 14-day quarantine period ends.”
