Over 20 senior citizens between the ages of 60-90 years and 10 attendants tested positive for coronavirus between May 1 and May 20.
Between May 1 and May 20, when Bengaluru was experiencing a massive surge of COVID-19 cases, there was an acute shortage of hospital beds, oxygen and other resources in Bengaluru. During this time, over 20 residents of an old age home in the city and 10 caretakers tested positive for the coronavirus, making it a cluster. The management of the establishment, Rotary Orchards Chaitanya Senior Citizens’ Home, was looking for a doctor who could attend to the patients, who were mostly between the ages of 60-90 years. Responding to the call was Dr Harsha Doddihal, who visited the home every day for more than a week after finishing up his own hours at the hospital where he works. Dr Harsha is a senior Consultant Radiation Oncologist at Fortis Hospital in Bengaluru. After his consultation hours, he would don a PPE suit and visit all the patients in the quarantine section of the old age home. “Most of them who had multiple complications (comorbidities) were shifted to hospitals immediately and the remaining were managed at the old age home itself. We had managed to procure two oxygen concentrators and fortunately we didn’t have to use them. All of them recovered without the need to take them to the hospital,” he said. Speaking about how the management of the old age home managed to find hospital beds amid the shortage, Praveen, operational executive of the establishment, said, “I do know it was a very difficult time to get beds but fortunately, when we contacted the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, we got timely response and were able to get beds to all those who had complications.” By the end of the ordeal, almost all senior citizens who contracted the coronavirus recovered, except for one person, who had a history of heart ailment. The patients expressed their gratitude for Dr Harsha and the management of the home to TNM. “Dr Harsha patiently checked us and told us if we were coronavirus-positive. However, he gave us confidence asking us not to be afraid. He used to come every day and attend to each of us. Because of his selfless services all of us are out of danger now and we are happy,” said Tharamani, a resident of the old age home The peak of the second wave of COVID-19 was distressing for many, as even if they did not have to live it, there were constant reports of rising deaths due to COVID-19, shortage of beds and medical oxygen, hospitals not being able to take in patients, etc. However, according to Praveen, the senior citizens at the home did not experience much of this. This is because they did not access the media much, and so did not know about the enormity of the crisis outside the old age home “Majorly, the senior citizens are involved in several activities and hence they didn’t know the severity of the problem outside. We assured them that it is a viral infection like any other and that they will be cured. So, the residents were not too distressed,” he said. ‘Vaccination played a major role’ Both Praveen and Dr Harsha pointed out that a huge factor in the recovery of the residents was that they had all received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. “We had taken all the senior citizens to a hospital and all of the inmates were vaccinated which I believe had a huge effect in helping the inmates recover,” Praveen pointed out. “This is a really good thing we saw in the old age home. After getting the vaccine they had very little interaction with the outside, helping their bodies develop immunity to the coronavirus. One general trend is that, immediately after vaccination, many tend to become careless and don’t take adequate precautions. It is not that the body will develop immunity the instant one gets the vaccine injection; the body requires time to build up immunity. This case is a very good example of that. A huge credit to so many recoveries can be attributed to them getting vaccinated,” Dr Harsha told TNM. When asked if he received support from his family and his hospital in helping the senior citizens, he said, “My entire family supported me and my wife told me that this is my duty and I had to do it as a doctor. The entire period I visited the old age home, all of us in the family slept in different rooms. The doctors’ team in Fortis also gave inputs on the matter and overall it was a team effort.”
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