MYSURU: While there are stories about people refusing to attend to their own kin over fear of catching infection, a 70-year-old retired teacher, who was left starving and covered in filth for weeks at her home in Mysuru, was rescued and put under care by caring citizens.
The unmarried woman was staying with her sister in Bengaluru, and had come to her home in Mysuru three months ago. With her health deteriorating and pandemic restrictions in place, she was confined to the house, and was found to be severely malnourished and dehydrated, and appeared to have gone without food for days.
“When we went into her home after a message from some neighbours, we found her lying in bed, covered in her own faeces. She was extremely malnourished and dehydrated. It was a horrible sight. Regardless of whether she is infected or not, we had to save her,” said Kiran Robert, secretary of Rotary Panchsheel, Mysuru.
According to him, with the pandemic, it was tough to find a place to put her in care, since such centres have stopped admissions. “She only has a sister and brother-in-law who are themselves old and afraid to even step out. They asked us to shift her to a home, and luckily, Vimala Terminal Care Home in Hinkal agreed to take her in,” said Robert.
He added that with the fear of Covid-19, he first rang up Lokayukta SP PV Sneha, who spoke to Mysuru City Corporation. “MCC health officer D G Nagaraj sent a team to collect her swab for Covid-19 test, and as her health was poor, a blood test was also done free of cost at the private diagnostic centre of Dr Zia-ur-Rahman, a city-based microbiologist,” added Robert.
Despite the scarcity of ambulances due to the pandemic, city-based DRM Hospital lent its ambulance and staff to shift the senior citizen to the terminal care centre, where she is now recuperating.