A 2,000km 4-day journey for Covid treatment

April 9: “When I left for Jodhpur from Nagpur on company work, I had a running nose and no other health issues. I even travelled to Nokha (Bikaner district) twice.”
April 19: “By now I was continuously sneezing and had developed mild fever”. The wife of a colleague and another colleague passed away due to Covid in Jodhpur. “I was in close contact with both these colleagues.Yet, I didn’t panic as the temperature was not rising.”
April 20: For the third time, he had to travel to Nokha on work. “It was an unpleasant 4-hour journey in a private bus as the fever had gone up.” On reaching Nokha, he got admitted at a hospital and continued working for the 3 days while undergoing treatment. “As the fever receded, I moved to a hotel and even completed the office assignment.”
April 23: He returned to the Jodhpur hotel in Basni Phase-II. “The fever returned, so I went to a hospital. The doctor did not advice a Covid test, instead suggested an HR-CT. I feared being quarantined if test was positive.”
April 24: The fever was now 102 degrees C. He handed over all work to colleagues. “I was panicking after reading about shortage of beds and oxygen in Jodhpur and Delhi. Should I remain in Jodhpur, go to Delhi, Nagpur or Mancherial? I was confused.” Colleagues and friends told him that the condition was no different in Nagpur as well as in Chandrapur. “My mother and and elder brother suggested I come to Mancherial where beds are available and there is no shortage of oxygen and medicines.” Plus, there was family to take care of him, which would have been difficult at any of the other three places. The decision was made. “Go to Mancherial, test for Covid and then begin treatment if needed.” Mancherial had no rail connectivity with Jodhpur and he left for Delhi by train. “I was still running high fever”.
April 25: In Delhi, he tried to book a hotel room. “I was now coughing too and fever showed no signs of subsiding.” Under the circumstances, no hotel was willing to take him in. After struggling for a couple of hours, he managed to get a room at premium cost. “I needed to be in a hotel only for a few hours as I had reserved a First AC ticket in GT Express.” Next, he planned to eat something to gain strength for the journey. “Food was not available at the hotel. I made an online order. For the exorbitant price I paid, the taste was awful.” At Delhi railway station, where he reached an hour before train departure, he was checked for fever. “The coughing was terrible and I was not allowed to enter the station.” The reservation was wasted and Mancherial seemed far away. “I returned to the hotel, again paid extra charges for a room. Praying that the fever and cough would subside so that I would be permitted to board the train, I took double doses of medicines.” Now, there was a new health issue — loose motions. The medicines for this made him feel weak. With fresh determination, he booked a ticket for Mancherial on GT Express for the next day.
April 26: At Delhi station, his temperature was checked. The officials saw him coughing. “Not only was I stopped from boarding, they also wanted to quarantine me. The media reports of lack of oxygen and beds flashed before my eyes and I somehow managed to escape from the station.” He returned to the hotel and requested them to arrange a vehicle to Mancherial. “A driver was willing to come only up to Nagpur and demanded Rs45,000 as fare. I chose to pay.”
April 27: The journey began and now he had started vomiting too; health was deteriorating. The air-condition in the car had to be switched off as it was affecting his cough. “The driver was very helpful and patient. We had to halt intermittently as I had to vomit and pass stools. Till the time I reached Nagpur, I had used over 50 packed drinking water bottles.” Travel time also took longer than expected as he had to negotiate 28 border check points.
At around 10am, he called his mother. “We expected him to reach Nagpur in the evening. He felt it would be difficult for him to hire another vehicle from Nagpur to Mancherial. We then made another plan.” His mother found an ambulance for hire and it had 30% oxygen in the cylinder. “The Mancherial-Nagpur-Mancherial ambulance trip was to cost us Rs22,000. I requested my relative Dilip Pittalwar (activist-politician) who resides in Ghugus to accompany me.” Being Hanuman Jayanti, Dilip was fasting. “But he promised to come and I felt reassured.”
Dilip called up this reporter at Nagpur, and sought primary treatment and some food for the travelling patient. Four private hospitals were contacted and told about the patient’s condition. Eliciting no response, the next call went to infectious disease specialist Dr Nitin Shinde at Alexis Hospital in Mankapur. The hospital was the closest for the patient after entering Nagpur city and Dr Shinde promised assistance. Due to continuous coughing, the patient was unable to talk on the phone. Through the helpful driver, the car’s location could be pinpointed to know the expected time of arrival.
4pm: The patient arrived at Alexis hospital. Due to weakness, he was unable to even get out of the car. The doctor at the emergency ward, who did not know the background of the case, refused to admit the patient. Finally, Dr Shinde intervened. “The vehicle had parked in front of the hospital and I was really worried.”
5pm: The patient’s oxygen saturation level was 86 as against normal range of 95. A rapid antigen test confirmed that he was Covid positive. His chest CT score was 13 and Dr Shinde advised immediate hospitalization and primary treatment started.
6pm: The mother and Dilip reached Alexis. “I was stopped from meeting my son but I was keen to see him. We decided to take him to Mancherial but the ambulance did not have sufficient oxygen.” This reporter then facilitated the refill. “The driver demanded another Rs20,000 and refused to budge. We decided to hire another ambulance. With help from hospital staff, we hired one for Rs17,000. Around 11pm, he started feeling better so we left for Mancherial. I was seated next to him and did not fear contracting the disease. We reached Mancherial early in the morning and got him admitted to a hospital. The primary treatment at Alexis hospital had given him a new lease of life.”
May 2: Now, he is on oxygen support at a hospital in Mancherial