85-year-old Odisha woman defeats COVID-19, gets cured

An 85-year-old woman from Odishas Jajpur district has emerged victorious in her fight against the deadly COVID-19 at a designated hospital here, hospital authorities said. The woman, weighing only 22 kg, was discharged from the SUM COVID Hospital here on Tuesday night after being completely cured, they said.

"Her battle continued for 12 days before she could defeat the disease leading to her discharge from the hospital. Her recovery has raised hopes among others combating the dreaded virus as people aged above 60 years are considered to be vulnerable to coronavirus," the hospital authorities said.

The octogenarian had tested positive for coronavirus on April 30 and was shifted to the dedicated facility on the same day. To her advantage, the woman had no co-morbidity factors except age-related issues.

"She showed no symptom of COVID-19 for the last three days before her discharge," they said. Doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and healthcare workers, who worked relentlessly to provide necessary care to the woman, have been hugely encouraged by her recovery while it has infused hope in the minds of other COVID-19 patients, they said.

Odisha governments chief spokesperson on COVID-19 Subroto Bagchi attributed the increased recovery rate of coronavirus positive cases and the progress among elderly patients to the governments "farsighted move" to make the state's health infrastructure ready for coronavirus pandemic. Dedicated COVID-19 hospitals have been set up in all the 30 districts state with a combined bed strength of around 6,000.

Meanwhile, 14 persons, including two three-year-old children from Jajpur district, were discharged from the hospital on Tuesday. One of them was a 60-year-old diabetic who was unaware about his condition when he was admitted. He was diagnosed with diabetes in the hospital itself.

"The treatment also helped his pre-prandial blood sugar level to reduce from 400 to 100 when he was released," the hospital authorities said. The SUM COVID Hospital, set up in collaboration with the Odisha government and supported by the public sector Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), has a total number 525 beds, including 25 beds in the ICU.

The four-storied complex housing the hospital has separate floors for treatment of the positive cases and those kept in isolation. The asymptomatic and seriously ill patients were also being treated in separate places. As many as 82 doctors have been deployed in the hospital drawn from the departments of medicine, pediatrics, anesthesia, pulmonary medicine, general surgery, orthopedics, psychiatry, ENT and ophthalmology. As many as 264 nurses were also working in the hospital.

The hospital authorities said that medical teams serving the hospital were required to work for 14 days after which they are replaced by a new team of 82 doctors..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)