KURNOOL/VIJAYAWADA: Emerging victorious over COVID-19, a three-year-old girl from Kurnool district got discharged from the Santiram Covid hospital after both her post-treatment test results returned negative for coronavirus.
The child hails from Old Town in Kurnool city which was classified as a red zone and is a secondary contact of a person who returned from Delhi.
She was shifted to a quarantine facility at Nandyal in the second week of April and tested positive for coronavirus. Since then, she was treated in an isolation ward for 24 days.
"She never showed signs of fear even when she was placed in isolation and cooperated with the doctors well," said director of the hospital Dr Madhavi Latha.
Speaking to TNIE about how difficult it is for a child to undergo Covid-19 treatment, SVIMS superintendent Dr R Ram said, "In general, treating children is difficult as they are impatient and this gets worse when it comes to coronavirus. Firstly, the dosage may be heavy for them as 98 per cent of the treatment is similar to that given to an adult.
"Keeping children away from their parents and making them follow the basic protocol — regularly washing hands, not touching their face and wearing a mask 24x7 — is difficult."
"Despite all the odds, this little girl did not show signs of fear and coped with the medicines, dosages bravely," said Dr Latha.
Collector G Veera Pandian appreciated the girl’s courage and also the team of doctors who treated her.
"The duration of the treatment is almost a month and this is enough to change a toddler's personality. Toddlers who are naturally extroverted may end up not being able to communicate with even their family members after the treatment. The chance of this is low but we cannot ignore the possibility," he explained.
Dr Ram went on to add that children who are extra sensitive or emotional may suffer from slight depression and feel for the rest of their lives that their parents abandoned them when they were in danger.
"You never know which memory of childhood may get stuck in one’s subconscious mind and also in what way," he pointed out.