A male nurse in Indore’s M.Y. Hospital is about to return to the isolation ward after defeating COVID-19. He has defeated the disease with his inner grit and in doing so became the first person in Indore to achieve this unique feat.
“Now that I have overcome corona, I am more confident and want to help others combat it,” said Rajesh Aswara who is 48 years-old. “But I am much more stronger now,” he said
To all nurses across the world, he says: “First of all, remove fear from your minds. Second, treat a patient only with a personal protective equipment(PPE) kit on. Don’t work without it.”
Not wearing a kit, while treating a COVID-19 patient, taught him a good lesson. “I wore just a mask and gloves,” he said. The patient was among the first cases to be reported from Indore on March 22. Until 25 March each day, when the patient died, he helped her put on a face mask, checked vitals and fed her.
“I am not sure how I got the illness from her. Just by touching an infected person, you could get it. As so many people are dying across the world and there is no treatment discovered yet, just the mention of it spooked me back then,” he said. And on March 26, his reports came and he was diagonised with COVID-19.
After being tested positive for COVID-19, he was in a state of shock of next 15 minutes. He told that passing the first day at the ward was the toughest, as his cough turned a sombre blackish. For several days, he slept for only two hours, walked in an empty ward next door feverishly hours at night. And with two-three patients dying of the disease at the hospital every day, he feared: Kahi agla number mera toh nahi? (Am I going to be the next?)
