COVID-19 Patient, 70, Flees Isolation Facility, Walks 17 km To Reach Home

The man alleged the isolation facility lacked basic amenities(Representational)

A 70-year-old COVID-19 patient ran away from an isolation facility in Pune's Balewadi area and apparently walked 17 kilometres to reach his home in Yarwada. He alleged that he escaped the civic body's quarantine facility as it did not provide food to patients and lacked basic amenities like clean washrooms.

On Tuesday evening, neighbours found the senior citizen sitting helplessly outside his home, which was locked up since the rest of his family members were also quarantined after some of them also tested positive for COVID-19.

When locals found that the old man, who had tested positive for coronavirus on April 25, had arrived at his house, they informed the authorities. The matter then reached to Yerawada area corporator Siddharth Dhende who arranged for an ambulance to take him away to the isolation facility.

"I informed the authorities to immediately rehabilitate the elderly man. I learned that civic officials were not even aware that he had disappeared. He was a suspected coronavirus case and was first sent to the Rakshaknagar quarantine facility in Kharadi on April 24. Next day, he was detected positive and he was shifted to Balewadi's National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR) facility," the corporator said.

Mr Dhende also expressed concerns regarding the lack of basic amenities in the quarantine facilities and urged the higher authorities to look into the matter.

The elderly man's son, who had also tested positive for COVID-19 arrived with an ambulance and convinced the man to move into the quarantine facility again. The son managed to convince his father after over two hours.

The officials said that thankfully the elderly man did not come in contact with anyone else on his way from the isolation facility to home.