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UP doctor celebrates son’s birthday over video
Lucknow: Amita Srivastava, a senior nursing officer at Lucknow’s King George’s Medical University (KGMU), has not met her family for days. She has been under passive
Lucknow: Amita Srivastava, a senior nursing officer at Lucknow’s King George’s Medical University (KGMU), has not met her family for days. She has been under passive quarantine after taking care of Covid-19 patients for seven days at a KGMU isolation ward. Srivastava is now undergoing a mandatory rest at a hotel since April 17 along with 22 members of her team and has missed some important events in between.
Srivastava joined her husband for their son Akshat’s 13th birthday celebration via a video call. “Never before have I been away from my family on my birthday [April 14] or that of my son [April 17]. But this year I was required by my patients because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Srivastava, who has been staying at the hotel since April 17.
Srivastava’s colleague, Lydia Saha, too, celebrated her 10th wedding anniversary on April 21 via video call. “I am away from my family since April 8 as we started our continuous active quarantine duty in the hospital. This is the longest I have stayed away from my daughter Aaradhya, who turned 8 in March,” said Saha. “All are home except me.”
She said they spend time at the hotel watching TV, reading books, making video calls to families and friends as well as chatting with other team members while maintaining distance, and doing yoga.
Srivastava said she loves plants and prefers yoga. “So I see the place of my worship and check my plants via video calls every morning when I wake up and that is followed by an online yoga session.”
Anoop Kumar, who worked in the ventilator unit of the isolation facility, said he has been going for morning and evening walks while staying with 14 team members at another hotel.
“Walks are between 6 am and 7 am and then 6 pm and 7 pm. The remaining time is spent inside the [hotel] room. But it is okay as we are inside the room for a big cause,” said Kumar, who is from Ayodhya.
Dr Uttam Kumar of the Balrampur Hospital, too, has to stay in a hotel room till May 3. “TV is the biggest medium for passing the time while other options to go out and engage in some other activity remain closed. Calling someone from home is not justified in this period. So I watch television programmes.”
