india

Updated: Mar 26, 2020 14:54 IST

A 22-year old woman and a 27-year old man have both recovered from coronavirus and will be discharged from the Government Institute of Medical Sciences in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida by Thursday evening, said officials. The woman is a student from Jharkhand who is pursuing medical studies in Georgia and the man is an engineer from Sector 41 in Noida.

The medical student was found positive for the virus after she returned to Noida from France, where she had gone on a trip before returning to India as her college extended the break amid Covid-19.

“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 to inform if we develop any. After reaching home, on March 14, I developed dry cough and blockage of the nose after which I called on the toll-free number who then directed me to GIMS,” said the 22-year-old discharged patient.

She was full of praise for the medical staff at the hospital and said she had volunteered to stay at the hospital even when initially presented with the option of home quarantine.

“They asked me if I want to go under home quarantine or get admitted and I chose to stay in the hospital. I have been in the isolation ward for 10 days and the medical staff has done everything possible to cure us,” added the medical student.

But her experience of the infrastructure at the hospital was not so great.

“The doctors and the medical staff have been working really hard but there is a need to improve the infrastructure. I haven’t taken bath since I was admitted on March 15. There were no separate bathrooms for women and men. The existing bathroom was also not in a running condition as the water pipes were leaking. I was using wet wipes sent by my father to clean myself. People were scared to come close to us, so we had to clean ourselves. Following the lockdown, my father couldn’t send wet wipes since yesterday,” said the medical student.

The head of department, medicine and the head of the medical team treating Covid-19 patients said that initially few arrangements were missing as the isolation wards were set up on an emergency basis but things have improved now.

“We are happy that two more patients are ready to get discharged after two of their reports have come negative for the infection. Initially, there was a problem of the bathroom as the arrangements were made in an emergency. Now we have separate bathrooms for women and men. There was Covid-19 ward set up in the hospital so it took some time to put things in place,” said Dr Saurabh Shrivastava, HOD, medicine.

On Wednesday night a 23-year-old patient from sector 78 was discharged from the hospital. Doctors said the only way to avoid Covid-19 infection was to maintain social distancing.

“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.

The discharged medical student says that it is important for people to behave responsibly without panicking.

“People need to follow the proper protocol of informing officials if they have any symptoms. Once I realized that I have got symptoms, I stayed away from my sister and two friends who were later found negative for the virus,” she said.

She added that patients undergoing treatment need to trust the nursing staff and shouldn’t question the treatment.

“There were many patients who were questioning the medical staff which only makes their job difficult so it is necessary to maintain your calm and to have faith that you will be cured,” said the 22-year-old.

Another discharged patient, a 26-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 on March 18 in the isolation ward of GIMS after his reports confirmed him positive for Covid-19.