KOCHI: Rajalakshmi’s babies, barely a month old, cry inconsolably from their crib for their mother. Oblivious to the horrible truth, the twins wail relentlessly, longing for their mother’s cuddle. Only that she won’t be able to rush to them with the unrelenting Covid march having claimed her young life earlier in the day. In a sad turn of events at Edakochi, Rajalakshmi, a young mother of newborn twins, died of Covid at a private hospital here on Sunday.
The 28-year-old developed symptoms at a late stage of her pregnancy and tested positive for Covid on September 14. Just four days later, she went through a premature delivery, giving birth to twins. While in treatment for Covid at the private hospital in Kochi, she went through the struggles of new motherhood with resolve, as the babies were born after years of waiting in hope and prayer. Destiny, however, had other plans. One of the twins got infected and, as doctors struggled to treat her baby, Rajalakshmi’s condition steadily worsened.
“She came to the hospital after being tested positive. Having been turned away from other hospitals, she was severely ill when she came to us. “We took her in and then her condition worsened. She went into premature labour and her twins were born with low weight. One of them showed symptoms of pneumonia at birth,” said a doctor of the private hospital in Kochi, where she was admitted to. Rajalakshmi’s husband, who is an autorickshaw driver, is inconsolable with grief.
“The babies were born after many years of waiting. The couple had undergone months of treatment as well, before Rajalakshmi conceived. It is tragic that she is no more to see them grow up,” said a distant relative of the family. “The couple was undergoing treatment at Muvattupuzha and the whole family was staying at a place there on rent for the treatment. She developed symptoms of Covid there and later tested positive for Covid-19.
They came back to Edakochi and she was taken to the Government Medical College Hospital at Kalamassery, but the family was advised to take her to the private hospital because of her pregnancy and better facilities there. While she was admitted to the private hospital, her husband and his parents tested positive and were being treated at a CFLTC. She breathed her last on Sunday,” said Baisil K J, Edakochi ward councillor.