Over the past two weeks, I have stopped thinking about anything except how to pick up the pieces and start afresh. For, life will never be the same again...,” says Amit Garg (36), who lost both his parents to COVID-19 last month.
His parents were doctors and passed away just ten days apart during the fierce second wave of COVID-19 that left many families in shatters.
“My world came crashing down on May 15 when my mother lost the battle to COVID. My father was hospitalized and was undergoing treatment for COVID-19 so we did not tell him anything and grieved in silence. Before I could come to terms with what had happened, I lost my father too on May 25. Both of them were 73 years old. Everything is still difficult to comprehend,” tells Amit, who is a resident of Sector 40, Chandigarh.
His father Dr Devinder Garg and mother Dr Lila Garg were married for 47 years and were dedicated medical professionals for over 45 years.
Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic last year, Dr Devinder, who was a comorbid, was working all seven days a week attending to the patients in private and government healthcare facilities.
“My father was dedicated to his profession and had always put his patients first. He kept giving medical advice to his patients over the phone even when he was hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment. He was working as a consultant in government and private healthcare institutions. I think it was during his duty that he came in contact with a COVID patient and got infected with the virus. As the situation had worsened due to COVID, I, my mother and my wife had stopped moving out of the house since the last week of April,” he says.
Amit and his wife Aditi, who are IT professionals, recall how they both were hopeful that their parents would return home from hospital after winning the battle against COVID-19 but their prayers went unanswered.
Sadly, many people have lost their loved ones to the virus but Amit's story is a testimony to how the COVID crisis choked off the government healthcare system while the private healthcare institutions were busy fleecing patients in the name of COVID treatment.
Narrating the tragic turn of events, the grieving son tells, “My mother had developed COVID symptoms on May 12 and her oxygen level had started fluctuating. Her oxygen level dropped below 60 on May 14 so we rushed her to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research.”
"We thought my mother was in safe hands but that was only the beginning of the ordeal. She was kept on a stretcher in the emergency ward in PGIMER and I could not do much but sit next to her. Her COVID report came positive and as her health began to decline, I kept pleading with doctors to shift her to COVID ward but no one listened to me. There were many COVID patients in the emergency ward and I could see the fear in my mother's eyes. She was concerned about us as well," says Amit, who alongwith his wife made a life-threatening choice of looking after their mother infected by the deadly disease.
They both not only faced high-risk of infection but had to also live through a traumatising experience of seeing their loved one struggling for life. At home, Amit's father's health also deteriorated and he decided to shift him to a private hospital in the city.
By that time, my wife and I knew that we might also be infected by the virus, says Amit.
“The next morning on May 15, my mother collapsed and I was told that she is very critical. The doctors told me that an ICU bed is not available in the PGIMER and I can shift her to another hospital. I felt so helpless,” says Amit, overwhelmed with emotion.
“I had to leave for sometime to check on my dad and that is when I received a call from my wife. She informed me that my mother had passed away," says Amit as he fought back tears.
"Not being able to comfort my mother during the final moments of her life was the hardest part of this heartbreaking ordeal...I felt like I couldn't take a breath but I had to go and ensure that my father was doing fine," he adds before pausing to collect himself.
His elder sister lives in Canada so she could not come for the cremation. A total of four family members cremated his mother and they decided not to tell the heartbreaking news to his father.
Amit says, "Somehow, my father came to know about it through our silence and told us to stay strong the next morning."
In the next two days, Aditi, who had developed mild symptoms was tested COVID positive while Amit was tested negative and both were home quarantined. The family breathed a sigh of relief as Dr Devinder was discharged from hospital and returned home on May 21.
Unfortunately, the moments of relief were short-lived. Dr Devinder had a cough attack the very next day and had to be rushed to the private hospital again.
"This time, I was scared to leave my father alone as he was put on a ventilator. I had requested the hospital authorities to allow me to go inside the ICU and meet my father once. Wearing a PPE kit, I met him on May 25 morning. I could see his body was giving up on him but I tried to motivate him," Amit says recalling the ill-fated day.
On the very same day in the evening, Amit received a call from the hospital informing him that his father passed away due to cardiac arrest. The grieving son was then handed over a bill of around Rs 5 lakh for seven days.
“I knew I was being overcharged by the hospital. I was in a state of shock and did not act against the hospital authorities. I went through the most helpless time of my life at the government as well as private COVID facility. I didn't know what lies ahead...” he shares.
Buried in the COVID-19 death toll statistics is the pain of people like Amit, who in the course of just ten days, lost both his parents.
Amit says, “They are not just numbers added to the COVID-19 death toll, they are people we really loved... They were inseparable and everything to each other. It was the ending of a beautiful story. I have felt a huge loss, a huge void in my life but I hope to find solace in treasured memories of my parents."
“There are a lot of memories from the past few months especially when we celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary in March. It hurts as I keep on recalling those little things about my parents,” he further says.
Of course, the most devastating part of all this was not being able to provide comfort to them, to sit with them at their bedside and to say goodbye, he adds.
Urging people to take COVID-19 seriously, Amit says, keep fighting the COVID-19 fatigue and be diligent about wearing a mask and taking other precautions.
“I still see people roaming around and not wearing a mask. Trust me, this has been the worst nightmare that we have had to live through now... If all your loved ones are doing well, keep it that way,” he concludes.