COVID19: From one ordeal to another, Assam’s kidney patient faces trouble at Jorhat’s isolation facility

Kamal Agarwal, owner of Durga Steels in Jorhat, went through the ordeal of travelling 60 hours straight from Maharashtra to Jorhat after having one of his kidneys removed.

But after arrival in Jorhat, Agarwal along with his family was put into the isolation facility of Jorhat Medical College Hospital (JMCH).

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Agarwal’s ordeal continues at the facility.

“The bed is too hard and I suffered from severe back pain last night. In the morning, I had to take the aid of my wife to go to the washroom,” he said adding that this was probably due to his operation.

“My son, wife, brother and I have all tested negative for COVID19, yet we are not being released. The food here is also distressing me,” he said.

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He hoped that the district administration would understand his plight and release all of them at the earliest.

“After I reached Jorhat on April 23, I came straight to JMCH to have myself and my family tested (his wife and brother had accompanied him to Mumbai),” said Agarwal.

“And they recommended home quarantine with separate bedrooms for each one of us and we also ensured them to strictly follow the instructions. But we were picked up on April 25 for reasons not known and shifted to the isolation ward,” he said.

Kamal Agarwal told Northeast Now how he had got stuck in the lockdown post the novel coronavirus threat in Mumbai and how they had managed the arduous journey through four states before reaching Jorhat.

“I was operated to remove one of my kidneys due to a tumour at the Kokilaben Hospital on March 19 and released on March 23 after the operation,” he said.

The family had rented an apartment at Andheri East and strictly followed lockdown guidelines.

“When the spread of COVID19 escalated in Maharashtra, we decided that it was not safe to stay there. I booked an ambulance to bring us back, stopping on the way only to relieve ourselves at fuel stations,” he said.

As the hospital had given him a diet chart, everything had been cooked and brought along with them.

“We travelled 60 hours straight from the night of April 20 to April 23 morning,” he said.

After reaching home and getting themselves checked, the Agarwal family had isolated themselves in separate rooms and were being served food by a helper. His son was there at home.

“Since I did not want to put my parents at risk, we sent them away to Sivasagar along with my other son, where we have our headquarters prior to our arrival here,” he said.

Agarwal said he was facing difficulty in sleeping and food at the JMCH isolation facility.

“This has become another ordeal now,” he said.

Agarwal crossed four states, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal before entering Assam and in each state, he had to show his hospital discharge papers.