A 24-year-old woman from Howrah district who tested positive for Covid-19 on April 13 and gave birth to a son on April 20, has recovered and was discharged from the hospital on May 1.
She lost her father-in-law to Covid-19, the day she herself tested positive. Her brother in-law, who too, had tested positive, is still in hospital. The nursing staff and doctors named the child Armaan, which in Arabic, means hope.
At the time of discharge on Friday, all staff at the hospital gave the mother and the child a standing ovation and sang ‘Ami Bhoy Korbo Na’ (I won’t be scared), an iconic song composed by Rabindranath Tagore for them.
The mother and the child were kept in the same room, to help build the bond, but at a distance of six feet to prevent any infection from spreading to the child. At the time of breastfeeding, the nursing mother wore masks, sunglasses, gloves and her whole body was sanitized. She wore Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) whenever the baby was brought to her.
“Doctors and nurses took extraordinary care of my child and me. I was very worried that breastfeeding could spread the infection to the child, but doctors and nurses kept assuring me, that all necessary care had been taken,” said the woman. “Thoughts of my children kept me strong,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}“Doctors and nurses took extraordinary care of my child and me. I was very worried that breastfeeding could spread the infection to the child, but doctors and nurses kept assuring me, that all necessary care had been taken,” said the woman. “Thoughts of my children kept me strong,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}She was released after her test reports dated April 27 and 30 indicated negative. She has been told to remain in home quarantine for 14 days. State health department officials will monitor the family’s health periodically.
Her husband, a 30-year-old, lost parts of both of his hands during an accident while working on a machine at an industrial unit in 2017. Her first child, a four-year-old son, has been in an institutional quarantine centre along with her husband, because the woman and her father-in-law tested positive.
“It feels great to finally reunite with my family. In the hospital, the thought of my baby kept me strong, even though my father-in-law’s death caused panic and worry. How the man who hardly stepped out of home, got infected by the virus, remains a mystery. I was keen to watch my newborn all day, but at the same time concerned about his well-being,” she said after reaching home on Friday evening.
According to a doctor at the hospital, the expected date of her delivery was May 7, but labour pains set in suddenly on April 20. The child was delivered normally and has fared well since birth.
Subhashis Mitra, director of Sanjivani Hospital at Uluberia in Howrah district, says that the case of the Covid-19 positive expectant mother was carefully dealt with, given the unprecedented situation of a baby needing protection from its mother’s disease.
“Protecting the baby from the infection was a challenge, and a great deal of care was taken in this regard. Our message to the world is that we need to beat coronaphobia with corona-awareness,” Mitra said.
Sanjivani is a private hospital that has been designated a Covid-19 hospital by the Bengal government, which is also bearing the expenses of the treatment of Covid-19 cases.