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Despite Covid-19 risk, women in Kanpur nurse their infected children in hospital
A woman, whose daughter was admitted to the hospital in May with Covid-19, said her child was so young that she could not have left her with the health workers in the hospital.
Carrying her three-year-old son and gently patting him on the back, she appears like any other mother, till you learn the toddler has been found Covid-19 positive, though the woman is fine in health.
Her health and also her life are at risk but she comfortably shares the bed with her son in Covid-19 ward on the first floor of the neurology department at LLR hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur.
At present, three mothers are inside this dangerous and infectious zone with their children who are recovering from the virus they contracted. Before them, two women left the facility with fully recovered children after spending more than two weeks in the ward.
“I salute these mothers who despite being at severe risk are taking care of their children in the Covid-19 ward. None of them was infected but no one knows how their children got this virus. We are treating them and hopefully they will be cured and go home like the others,” said a doctor.
The children, aged between three and four years, are the morale boosters for the other 50 patients admitted to the ward. Their activities and frolic keep the patients entertained and those sitting in the central control room watching the CCTV feed can’t stop smiling.
“During the day, they play a lot and their mothers keep running after them. They feed them, put them to sleep and ensure they are given medicines on time,” said the doctor posted at the control room in the deputy principal’s office.
According to health officials, there is no rule or a guideline that says a non-infected person cannot stay with a Covid-19 patient in the hospital.
A woman, whose daughter was admitted to the hospital in May with Covid-19, said her child was so young that she could not have left her with the health workers in the hospital. “Nothing is more important than my daughter. I immediately volunteered to take care of her even it meant putting my life at stake. With the blessings of God nothing happened. I was tested twice and each time I came out negative,” she said.
Deputy principal of GSVM medical college and superintendent in chief of LLR hospital, Dr Richa Giri, said indeed there was provision of very young Covid-19 infected children staying with their mother in the ward but at times one faced issues having no immediate solution in sight.
“We do not have enough people to take care of such small children but we keep a close watch and ensure the mothers are protected and wear masks all the time,” she said, adding work was on for new arrangements so mothers would not have to put up with the infected children.
