91-year-old woman from city’s Sector 15, six others from Bapu Dham Colony test positive

The 91-year-old’s son says family cannot foot the bill for Covid treatment at Max.

A 91-year-old woman from Sector 15 in Chandigarh, along with six other residents from hotspot Bapu Dham colony, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Thursday.

The senior citizen was admitted to Max Hospital on May 24 for a surgery to correct her femur fracture, however, tested positive for COVID-19 late Wednesday evening, following which she was shifted to the hospital’s isolation ICU ward. The tally of COVID-19 cases in the UT stands at 289 at present.

The 91-year-old’s son says family cannot foot the bill for Covid treatment at Max. The woman’s son, who is a Chandigarh-based advocate said that he cannot foot the bill for an additional COVID-19 treatment at Mohali’s Max Hospital and has been trying to request the authorities to shift his mother to Chandigarh’s PGIMER.

“During the lockdown, we had barely any options available for treating her fracture, so we decided to take her to a private hospital and got a six-day package for her treatment, costing about Rs 3.5 lakh. We cannot afford to pay anymore than that if they delay her surgery,” says the advocate.

The woman had injured herself while walking in the garden on May 19 and later discovered that it was a major fracture. “At first, we did not realise about the severity of the injury and just made sure that she rested well. However, we tried to get an X-ray done, but all orthopedic OPDs were shut,” says the advocate.

The family managed to get the X-ray done only on May 22 through a mobile service, whose technicians took her X-ray from home. “That revealed she had a major fracture in the femur, so we had to seek medical help immediately,” says the advocate.

On Sunday, the woman was admitted to Max Hospital for a surgery. However, as she was sampled for COVID-19 before the surgery, she tested positive. “Wednesday evening I received a message saying that my mother is COVID-19 positive and they have shifted her to the isolation ICU ward. I could pay the bill for the six-day package we had agreed upon, but the COVID-19 treatment here will be too expensive for us,” says the son.

Taking cognizance of the matter, Advocate General for Punjab, Atul Nanda spoke to the 91-year-old’s son on Thursday evening and assured him that his mother will be shifted to PGIMER promptly with the help of the Mohali DC.

However, PGIMER Director Jagat Ram said that the woman had not been shifted to PGIMER yet. “Ideally, she should be kept in Mohali if she tested positive there,” added the director.

The 91-year-old is asymptomatic and does not have any significant co-morbidities. The senior citizen’s family members, including her son, daughter-in-law and grandson, have been shifted to GMSH-16 and sampled for the disease. Their test results are awaited.

PANCHKULA

One woman, a resident of Sector 12 A Panchkula, a foreign returnee from US, tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Faridabad on Thursday.The district tally now totals to 26 with her being the only active case. The lady is being added to Panchkula numbers as a call taken by the state has ordered foreign returnees testing positive will be counted at their home districts explains CMO Panchkula, Dr Jasjeet Kaur.