Two nonagenarians 230 km apart have become the template of positivity for healthcare and frontline workers for overcoming the COVID-19 gloom in Assam.
On May 18, Snehalata Dutta went home after recovering from COVID-19 at a Covid Care Centre (CCC) in Tinsukia district’s Mohkhuli Model Hospital, about 5 km from Tinsukia town.
She had no comorbidities but was very weak due to a persistent cough and fever when she was wheeled in about a fortnight ago from her village, Bisphtuia.
“She could not eat and had trouble remembering, but was adamant about staying put in the Mohkhuli facility when we referred her to a bigger hospital because of her condition,” sub-divisional medical and health officer Chandralekha Saikia told The Hindu .
Ms. Dutta referred to the Mohkhuli centre as “our hospital,” as most villagers in the vicinity do.
Snehalata Dutta
“We thought she might not make it, but the nurses and medical staff did that extra bit to help her recover. Her determination worked too,” Ms. Saikia said, adding that her positivity appeared to have rubbed off on the healthcare workers as well as other patients.
The Mohkhuli CCC has 44 beds. Five others were discharged along with Ms. Dutta, leaving 28 others inspired by her fighting spirit to recover and go home.
Ms. Saikia said all members of her three teams under Hapjan Block have been vaccinated along with other healthcare and frontline workers, barring a few pregnant and lactating women.
A few days before, 98-year-old Deepson Das of Bhakatgaon village in Golaghat district became the ‘poster boy’ of the vaccination drive by the local authorities.
“Apart from ambling in confidently, he appealed to the villagers to get themselves vaccinated as a preventive step,” a healthcare official at the Kamarbandha Ali public health centre said.
Superstitions and a social media-driven theory that vaccines cause infertility have made many in the northeast sceptical about taking the vaccine.
Assam on Tuesday recorded 5,835 fresh cases and 73 deaths, down from 6,394 cases and 92 deaths on Monday. Medical experts, however, said it was too early to conclude that the situation has improved.
