HT Salutes: A Covid +ve doctor found support from an unlikely source

Dr Aditi Puniya found out she was Covid-positive at 2pm on April 24. By 4pm, people in her colony and all her friends knew about the diagnosis.

Dr Aditi Puniya found out she was Covid-positive at 2pm on April 24. By 4pm, people in her colony and all her friends knew about the diagnosis.

Dr Aditi Puniya (Photo: Raj K Raj/HT)

The resident welfare association (RWA) of the colony in Ghaziabad where she lived had put up a notice everywhere letting people know she had tested positive, and an NGO had tweeted about it.

“I was surprised. I was getting calls from everywhere about the diagnosis. I don’t think there was any malice behind what the RWA did, they probably just wanted to inform people and did not know what to do,” said Dr Puniya. She is a postgraduate student working in the department of paediatrics in Jag Parvesh Chandra hospital.

Her sister tested negative and was put up in a quarantine centre in Ghaziabad, while Dr Puniya was admitted to a Covid-designated hospital.

But it was not all bad. When her sister returned from quarantine, a neighbour started giving them food thrice a week. “We were not very close earlier; we would just greet each other when we met in the lift or lobby. But we have become very close now. My sister got back home before me. The neighbour called my sister to the balcony and gave her food. She still continues to share food with us,” Dr Puniya said.

Several members of staff were asked to go into quarantine. “Some of them had very bad experiences, with people not coming close to their house. Our area was declared a containment zone after I tested positive, and groceries were delivered to our houses. But for many others in non-containment areas, getting groceries became difficult during home quarantine, and their neighbours did not help,” she said. Her colleagues stepped up and started bringing groceries to all those who had been quarantined.