Ahmedabad: Mumbai resident Chandrakant Patel, 66, was on holiday in Nainital in mid-March along with his wife, son, and some friends, when he suddenly took ill with high-grade fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing. He was admitted to a hospital near Haldwani on March 21, and a day later, he tested positive for Covid-19. Patel was admitted to the hospital for 12 days, but there was no improvement in his condition.

“His condition had deteriorated despite spending several days at the hospital, and so we decided to shift him to another hospital. We got good references about CIMS hospital in Ahmedabad and airlifted him to the city the same day,” said Patel’s son Arjun, who now lives in Houston, Texas.

He was transferred from Pantnagar to Ahmedabad by Aerotrans Services, an Ahmedabad-based Air Charter Service Company in coordination with patient relatives/air team & Ahmedabad based private hospital CIMS team along with local hospital team in the safe transfer of patient to CIMS.

Patel showed severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, with up to 90% infection in the lungs, oxygen saturation level of around 80%, and other problems in the initial days of treatment at CIMS.

Dr. Bhagyesh Shah, Senior Consultant Critical Care Medicine at CIMS, said, “Once the patient was admitted at CIMS Covid care Isolation ICU, he was provided aggressive treatment along with alternate HFNC and NIV support. Even in this phase patient was given prone position for 6-8 hours per day. He had multiple episodes of secondary bacterial infections, which were taken care of by early interventions and providing appropriate antibiotics. He was also treated by Dr. Pradip Dabhi, Senior Pulmonologist who did awake bronchoscopy for resolving pneumonia and extended his support in the treatment.”

Arjun said his father spent eight days in Covid-19 ICU, around five weeks in a regular ICU ward, and was admitted in a private room for the last two weeks. He also applauded timely intervention of the doctors because of which invasive ventilation could be avoided.