We are all aware of the extreme shortage of various medical equipment and space needed for people who are testing positive for COVID-19.
In almost all of the biggest metro and urban cities, hospitals are greatly lacking in resources to sufficiently handle the horde of patients that are coming in.
India’s second wave of coronavirus is hitting the country hard and people with patients in critical health are running around without much hope trying to find any help that they can.
Hospitals even in the biggest and so-called modern cities don’t have beds, oxygen, and many other things that coronavirus patients, especially those in critical condition greatly require.
So we cannot even think of what situation people who live in rural or remote areas must be going through. Well, the instance of a Telangana boy creating an isolation ward on a tree might give us some insight.
Telangana Boy Isolates On A Tree
Ramavath Shiva, an 18-year-old tribal student from the Kotha Nandikonda village in the Nalgonda district of Telangana tested positive for COVID-19 on May 4th, 2020.
A first-year BA student in Hyderabad he had been at his home for the past month and had registered for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to help out his family during this pandemic.
As per reports, Shiva has stated that “On May 4 evening, I tested positive for COVID-19 and doctors advised me to stay at home in isolation with due precautions. But there is hardly any space in my small house, where I have been staying with my parents and sister.”
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Not only was his house too small to adequately isolate himself but sources state that the nearest hospital to the village is somewhere 30 km away and even the closest primary health center (PHC) is around 5 km away.
Seeing how an isolation ward from a hospital was practically impossible, Shiva built one himself on a tree that is near his house.
He tied bamboo sticks to the branches in order to create a board on which he could sit and lay down when he wanted to sleep.
Shiva quarantined on the tree for a good 12 days and as per him, “It was very comfortable for me. My parents used to keep breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a chair placed near the tree and I used to come down to eat. Except for attending to nature’s call, I did not leave the tree during my isolation period.”
Apparently, on May 13th, a hostel had been converted into an isolation ward, but Shiva stated that “I was told a hostel meant for Scheduled Tribe students at Adavi Devulapalli block headquarters was converted into an isolation center on May 13. But by that time, I had already finished eight days in isolation on the tree. Moreover, no villager came to see me fearing COVID-19.”
Even with his circumstances, Shiva has an upbeat mindset about this all, giving some positive words saying, “There is no need to panic because of COVID-19. You can conquer it with your positive thinking.”
Shiva came down from the tree on Monday and since he is now feeling better he has said he will soon be making a trip to the health center to get tested again.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: News18, The Print, Hindustan Times
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This post is tagged under: covid 19 cases, covid 19 cases india, isolation, isolation ward, nalagonda, Telangana, Telangana man isolation ward, Telangana village, tree isolation, covid isolation, covid isolation India, collapsing health infrastructure, India’s response to second wave of COVID-19, isolation centres, privilege, rural India, living on a tree, close to nature, community help covid-19, telangana boy isolates tree
