Delhi woman recovers from Covid after 35 days on ventilator

Meenu Chauhan, the principal of a private school in Delhi, lives in the national capital with her husband Rohit Chauhan and daughter. She had reached her maternal home in Kurukshetra on April 1 to fetch her daughter back to Delhi when she developed Covid symptoms and was forced to stay back, said her husband.

‘Dilliwali Meenu’ was a popular name in a Kurukshetra hospital which doctors and nursing staff used to refer to a patient from Delhi who was on ventilator support for 35 days battling Covid and survived severe lung infection to beat the disease.

Doctors said Meenu tested positive for Covid on April 3.

Meenu Chauhan, the principal of a private school in Delhi, lives in the national capital with her husband Rohit Chauhan and daughter. She had reached her maternal home in Kurukshetra on April 1 to fetch her daughter back to Delhi when she developed Covid symptoms and was forced to stay back, said her husband.

Doctors said she tested positive for Covid on April 3. Her condition became critical after her oxygen saturation plummetted to 70 (the optimum is 90% and above) and the infection spread to both her lungs.

She was taken to the private hospital in Kurukshetra and when her condition started deteriorating, she was put on oxygen support, said the doctors who treated her. A few days later, the infection had spread to her lungs, they said.

When she was unable to breath normally, the doctors shifted her to the intensive care and put her on ventilator support on April 8.

Recalling her month-long battle against Covid, Meenu said, “It was a very critical time that I had to face. I was very tense when doctors shifted me to the ICU. I began to realise that I may not recover or see my family again.”

“But the doctors and staff members of the ICU gave me strength to fight this invisible enemy and I started recovering after over a month,” she said.

Dr Anurag Kaushal, who treated Meenu, said she is a very strong woman and every staff member of the hospital was in awe of her willpower to fight. “But I think luck also plays a crucial role in the recovery of many a critically ill patient.”

He said Meenu’s battle against Covid-19 and her almost miraculous recovery is inspiring other patients to fight against the deadly viral infection.

Chauhan said Meenu has been discharged from the hospital, but she will still stay in Kurukshetra to recuperate as she is too weak to travel to Delhi.