‘Virus ripped my world apart, don’t be casual’

KARNAL: As the second wave of Covid-19 sweeps through the country, a Karnal-based family is haunted by the tragedy that the virus caused by claiming lives of four members of the family in a span of three weeks.

The family residing in Karnal’s Model Town area urges people not to take this deadly virus lightly.

Mayank Malhotra, who is manager at a private bank in Panipat, lost his father advocate Chandar Mohan Malhotra, 75, mother Kiran Malhotra, 69, uncle advocate Jagdish Kumar Malhotra, 73, and paternal aunt Sarla Malhotra, 80, to the virus. They died at the Covid ward of Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College and Hospital, Karnal.

Mayank’s elder brother Ashish had returned from aboard following his family testing positive. The brothers are now helping each other through this time. Their father fell ill and was admitted in the hospital on September 3 last year. Two days later, their mother developed symptoms. Their father died on September 5 and mother two weeks later. On September 22 last year, their aunt died and the next day their uncle succumbed to the virus in the same hospital. The brothers have urged people not to take the virus lightly especially when most hospitals are occupied

and there is limited infrastructure and hospital staff to take care of patients.

The brothers say they were not satisfied with the treatment provided by the KCGMCH. Days after death of their mother, they had filed a complaint against the doctors and hospital staff for keeping them in dark about the medical condition of their mother who they claimed was recovering and died all of a sudden.

Mayank said they have still not received any response from the higher authorities over their complaint.