RAJKOT/AHMEDABAD:
Anxiety and distress among Covid-19 patients have reached a disturbing level with some going to the extreme of claiming their own lives.
Two such cases were reported on Saturday, one from Gondal in Rajkot where a man slit his throat and another from Ahmedabad where the infected patient jumped to death from 5th floor of the hospital building.
Jayanti Chotangiya (60) from Gondal, who was infected with coronavirus for around a week, killed himself at a dargah on Saturday. A resident of Vora Kotda road in Gondal, Chotangiya was ill for around a week and his sons had even brought an oxygen cylinder after he tested positive for Covid-19. But as his condition was not improving, the family was planning to admit him to Rajkot Civil Hospital on Saturday.
But Chotangiya left home around 11.30am without telling anyone. When he was not found at home, his younger son called him to know where he was. Chotangiya told him that he was at the dargah where he often used to worship and will be back home shortly.
After talking with the caretaker of the dargah for a while, Chotangiya went inside for offering prayers. When he did not come out, the caretaker went inside and found Chotangiya lying in a pool of blood. The caretaker informed Chotangiya’s sons and the police. His sons told cops that Chotangiya was upset after testing Covid-19 positive and did not want to get hospitalized.
Meanwhile, Rasik Thakore (65), who was hospitalized in Shardaben Hospital in Ahmedabad after testing positive for coronavirus, jumped to death from the fifth floor of the hospital. Thakor was hospitalized on April 11. Sources said that Thakor was mentally perturbed by death and disease around him in the Covid-19 ward and jumped to his death early on Saturday morning around 6 am.
On April 15, Sunil Bhalsod (44), who was admitted to Sanjeevani Gurukul Hospital in Rajkot, ended his life by hanging himself from a windowpane using his oxygen tube. Bhalsod, a resident of Sant Kabir Road, had tested positive for coronavirus on April 13.