LUCKNOW: What one requires is robust willpower to conquer any adversity, even if it is the dreaded coronavirus. This was aptly proven by GC Gupta, the 1923 born retired civil engineer who came out of the hospital after defeating the virus and holding his COVID-19 report like a memento of victory in Agra on Wednesday evening.
The 97- year- old walked out of the hospital, free of the COVID-19 infection, with a child-like excitement in eyes to go home and be among his dear ones. His 12-day saga of survival may inspire many of his ilk as he, despite a number of co-morbid medical conditions and age, came out unscathed.
A resident of Agra’s Gandhi Nagar colony, Gupta, who had already been suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) and urinary infection, on coming to know that the deadly virus has invaded his body, got worried over the risk involved and the sky came crashing for the family. Gupta was immediately admitted to Covid-19 hospital at Agra’s Nayati Hospital, a private establishment, on May 29.
“For the next 12 days, he was kept on high-oxygen flow in the isolation ward as he had difficulty in breathing plus Urinary Tract Infection which was treated,” said a senior doctor of the Nayati hospital. The hospital staff said that Gupta had come smiling with the resolve to beat the virus and went back smiling. He was an easy patient and cooperated with the hospital staff and doctors, said the hospital sources.
Agra DM PN Singh said called him a motivation with a strong will power to fight out the deadly virus in the present trying times. “Following proper care and treatment, 97-year-old Covid-19 patient has overcome infection. He is a motivation for all of us, a ray of hope to all the Covid-19 patients, especially, those who fall in his age bracket.”
Gupta is the oldest person in UP to have fought the deadly virus successfully. A 94- year-old Noida-based Urdu poet --Anand Mohan Zutshi ‘Gulzar’ Dehlvi, had also contracted the infection and was hospitalized with co-morbid conditions as grave as coronary artery disease, hypothyroidism and enlarged prostate. He was also declared coronavirus-free three days back.