Octogenarian undergoing treatment dies, govt. denies it is a COVID-19 death

The usually crowded market in Kerala wears a deserted look during the 21-day lockdown even as traders get ready to unload fresh stocks.

An 85-year-old man from the Malappuram district who was being treated for COVID-19 at Government Medical College Hospital, Manjeri, died on Saturday morning. Health authorities claimed that he had been cured and that his death was not due to COVID-19. They said he suffered from multiple ailments and died of cardiac arrest.

The octogenarian from Kariyamad, near Poonthanam in Keezhattur panchayat, was admitted to Medical College at Manjeri on April 2 after he tested positive for COVID-19. He had been under treatment for heart ailment when he tested positive.

The health authorities said that he was cured after two weeks treatment and tested negative twice subsequently

Minister for Higher Education K.T. Jaleel, who oversees the COVID-19 operations in Malappuram district, refused to count it as the third COVID-19 death in Kerala.

In a medical bulletin released here on Saturday, the district authorities said that the man had been shifted to step-down ICU on April 11. He suffered severe chest pain and breathlessness on April 13 afternoon, and was found to have suffered a cardiac arrest in ECG and echo tests.

He was found to have suffered an acute kidney injury in a test conducted on April 14. He was soon given ventilator support. A team of nephrologists from Government Medical College, Kozhikode, treated him with dialysis.

After a slight improvement, he suffered severe fever on April 16 and was found to have urinary infection. He was diagnosed with septicemia and multi organ failure (MOF) syndrome on Friday. According to the medical bulletin, he breathed his last in the early hours of Saturday.

How the octogenarian contracted COVID-19 continues to be a riddle for the health authorities. It was earlier suspected that he caught the infection from his son, who had returned from Saudi Arabia after Umra pilgrimage on March. But the son tested negative for COVID-19.

A vigil had been sounded in Keezhattur and neighbouring panchayats as his son was found to have visited several places and taken part in several gatherings after his return from abroad.