My father was the one who first contracted coronavirus on 18 th April 2021, despite all the safety measures. At that time, I was with my wife and son in Chennai while my parents were living in Pune. I had just bought my new car, and we were happily planning for a family vacation when we received my father’s COVID report. It took the wind out of my sails as I began to fear the worst that could happen. Though it was not serious, the doctor advised him to be admitted to the hospital as he had many other health issues which could complicate his condition. The second wave of COVID was at its peak at the time, and it would take weeks to get admitted to a hospital. Using all the influence and connections I could muster, he was admitted within a couple of days, but I could not reach Pune as the operating airlines had stringent norms of RT-PCR test reports, which would take several days to get processed.
It was a challenging time for all of us. I had just moved to Chennai with my family, and we hadn’t settled yet. I could not leave them in Chennai, nor could I take them to Pune due to the surging COVID cases in the city. So, I drove down to Hyderabad to drop them and headed straight to the hospital in Pune, where my father was admitted. Within two weeks, my father’s condition started deteriorating, and he was transferred to the ICU, where he was put on ventilator support. It was a big challenge for us to arrange the Remdesvir injection for my father’s treatment, and we had to order its special consignment from Mumbai by car.
