How Covid affected Agra family

LUCKNOW: John Benedict, 31, who is a bank manager and hails from Agra, strongly believes that things are even tougher in Agra.

Benedict said almost a fortnight back he received a call from his mother, informing him about Covid-like symptoms.

“I am posted in Madhya Pradesh. I rushed to Agra to take care of my parents,” he recalled.

He said that without wasting much time, he took his mother to a doctor who called it a general viral fever.

“Soon, my father, 74, and sister, 28, too developed symptoms. I decided to take my parents to hospital,” he said.

“I was told that almost all the beds are packed. I was left with no other option than to take my parents to a private hospital, which readily admitted my mother for Rs 15,000 a day and prescribed some medicines for the other family members,” he added.

Four days later, his father started complaining of breathlessness.

“I took him to the same hospital where the doctor hospitalised him — again for Rs 15,000 a day. And my father was put on oxygen support,” he said.

But a shock was in store as the hospital contacted him later, saying that he may take his father as they were short of oxygen.

“They gave me just three hours to decide. And then the hunt began for an oxygen cylinder,” he said.

“We could manage just one cylinder. We brought it to the hospital and saved my father. But the hospital said that they won’t be providing the oxygen support anymore as they are short of oxygen,” he added. The second day, they managed a cylinder through a broker who charged Rs 3,000 for re-filling.

“But when we returned, we were told that the cylinder was half-filled and would last a few hours only,” he said.

He said his mother was discharged after eight days.