BHUBANESWAR: Nonagenarian Annapurna Biswal of Chandrashekharpur in Bhubaneswar is now back home from SUM Covid hospital having defeated the virus.
Amid the gloom and despair over the fierce Covid-19 second wave across the country, the 98-year-old woman with several comorbidities walked out of the hospital on Wednesday evening.
A diabetic for over last two decades Annapurna also suffers from filaria and hypertension. She was admitted to the hospital after she tested positive on May 5. Despite her comorbid condition, she responded to the medication and recovered within a week's time.
Hospital sources attributed her recovery to a strong will-power and never say die attitude. Though her oxygen saturation was fluctuating, she was never nervous and cooperated well with the treating doctors and attending nurses.
"She was the eldest woman patient of the State to have battled the virus and defeated it. She was our strength inside the hospital. She inspired many others who are under treatment," said a nurse.
Her family members had all praise for the healthcare workers at the hospital. "The dedicated care extended to my mother has helped her recover. We were apprehensive about her condition as she was diabetic having high blood pressure. Thank God and the doctors who treated her," said her son Kulamani Biswal.
Annapurna is believed to have contracted the infection from her home nurse, who takes care of her. She was diagnosed with the disease a day after the nurse tested positive. Other family members had tested negative except her grand-daughter-in-law, who was, however, asymptomatic.
Though she knew about Covid before getting infected, her family did not let her know until she was admitted to the hospital. Her grandson Jyoti Ranjan had even accompanied her in the ambulance to the hospital to ensure that she does not get nervous.
"We used to see her twice a day via video conferencing set up by the help desk which was regularly updating us on her health condition. She remained quiet for hours after arriving home from the hospital. Now she has started talking to us. She advises us to use mask and warns not to touch her," said her
grand-daughter-in-law Rajashree Biswal.