Greater Noida: Two more Covid-19 patients successfully treated at GIMS
Two more people who were being treated for Covid-19 were discharged from the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida on Thursday evening.
A 22-year-old woman from Jharkhand, who was studying in a college in Georgia and a 27 year-old man, a resident of Noida’s Sector 41, have both recovered after the mandated treatment and recovery period.
The woman, a student of medicine, was tested positive for the Sars-Cov-2 virus — which causes the Covid-19 infection — after she returned to Noida from France in March. She was on a trip to France and Italy.
“I am studying in a medical college in Georgia along with my elder sister. We had gone on a trip to France and Italy when we came to know our college would remain closed for many weeks, following the coronavirus outbreak. We then decided to return to Noida. I had flown down with my sister and two friends. I had no symptoms at the airport, but we were given a toll-free number and asked to inform health authorities if we developed any. After reaching home on March 14, I developed a dry cough and had a blocked nose, after which I called the number, and an official directed me to GIMS,” said the 22-year-old patient.
“I immediately went to GIMS to give my sample. They asked if I wanted to be home quarantined or get admitted in the hospital, and I chose the latter. I have been in the isolation ward for 10 days, and the medical staff has done everything possible to cure us,” she told HT on Thursday.
She was admitted to the hospital on March 14.
In total, 14 persons people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the district. Three patients have been discharged from GIMS, while eight are still being treated. Two more patients are admitted in the Super Speciality Children Hospital in Sector 30.
As of Thursday evening, the district health department had tracked 1,117 travellers, put 1,787 people under surveillance. Across the district, 392 samples had been collected, of which 303 have returned negative, 14 positive, and 75 reports are awaited.
While patients who are undergoing treatment for Covid-19 said they were happy to get treated, they said there were several inconveniences owing to a lack of facilities.
“Doctors and medical staff have been working really hard, but there is a need to improve the infrastructure. I haven’t had a bath since I was admitted on March 15. There were no separate bathrooms for women and men. The bathroom itself had leaking water pipes. I was using wet wipes to clean myself. People are scared to come close to us, so we had to clean up ourselves. Once the lockdown was put in place, my family has not even been able to send us wet wipes,” the medical student said.
The head of department (HOD), medicine, and the head of the medical team treating Covid-19 patients said that while a few arrangements were missing initially, because the isolation wards were set up on an emergency basis, things have improved now.
“We are happy that two more patients are ready to be discharged after two of their samples tested negative for the infection. Initially, bathrooms were a problem as the arrangements were made on an emergency footing. Now, we have separate bathrooms for women and men. A Covid-19 ward had to be set up in the hospital, so it took some time to put things in place,” said Dr Saurabh Shrivastava, HOD, medicine, GIMS.
On Wednesday night, a 23-year-old patient from Sector 78 was discharged from the hospital after being treated successfully.
Doctors have said the only way to avoid the coronavirus disease so far is to maintain a social distance.
“It is important for people to follow the guidelines of the health department to maintain social distancing. There is no fixed treatment for Covid-19 till now, but the antimalarial medicines which have been used all over the world have shown results in the case of these three patients,” added Shrivastava.
HT had reported last week that the widely used anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have emerged as promising candidates in the fight against the coronavirus.
The discharged medical student said it is important for people to behave responsibly without panicking to ensure the safety of others and themselves.
“People need to follow the proper protocol of informing officials if they have any symptoms. Also, patients undergoing treatment need to trust the nursing staff. There were many patients who were questioning the medical staff at the hospital, which only makes their job difficult, so it is necessary to stay calm,” the woman said.
Another discharged patient, a 27-year-old resident of Sector 41, had travelled to Indonesia via Malaysia with his wife and returned to India on March 3. He was admitted to the isolation ward of GIMS on March 18.