A nonagenarian who has recovered for Covid-19 is stranded at the state-run Gandhi Hospital after her family members expressed hesitance to take her home and asked for tests to be done.
According to a report in The Times of India, the 93-year-old woman was declared to be medically sound for home quarantine by officials, but her family members are insisting that tests for Covid-19 be done to confirm that she has been cured.
The woman, her son and two grandchildren had all tested positive for the viral infection and were subsequently admitted to the hospital. Last week, the woman's son passed away due to coronavirus, while the two grandchildren are in a stable condition and under home quarantine.
The hospital officials, had at first, asked the woman's family to take her home but agreed to keep her for a few more days after another granddaughter, who resides in the US, pleaded with them.
In Telangana, health officials do not test persons who have recovered. However, they instruct them to be in home quarantine for an additional 14 days.
“She is stable, but the hospital has not conducted another round of tests on her and that makes it difficult to convince any relative to keep her,” the granddaughter told TOI.
She added that the hospital's officials have decided to take care of her grandmother after she made several requests.
Officials at the Gandhi hospital say that this is not a one-off incident and add that they have seen kin refusing to take patients back after treatment.
“In 6-7 cases, the family has refused to accept the patient, until they test negative,” the official was quoted as saying by the publication.
The official added that in other cases, where the family's residence does not have a specific room to keep the patient in quarantine, the government makes necessary arrangements.
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