All that Jenneh Paye and her son Jin want is to go home to Liberia.

The child was admitted to Lisie Hospital in the city on March 2 for a cardiac surgery and had an uneventful recovery. However, the COVID-19 situation in the country extended their stay at the hospital.

Their return to Liberia was originally scheduled on April 2, but the lockdown affected their travel plans. The little resources Jenneh had with her for a month’s stay also got exhausted, said hospital authorities in a communication.

The mother and child are now being supported by the hospital management with some help from the Liberian honorary consulate in New Delhi and a few donors.

Jenneh hopes that some kind act will help them reunite with her husband and family members back home.

House mortgaged

Jin was diagnosed with a hole in the heart a few months after his birth. Sia Wata Camanor, a senior paediatrician at the JFK hospital in Liberia, had referred the child to Lisie Hospital. The family had worked overtime and mortgaged their house to collect money for their travel to Kochi. The hospital authorities said they hoped Jenneh and Jin could soon be sent back on repatriation flights from either Nigeria or Liberia.