Air Force officer Arun Gaikwad lost his wife and three relatives to Covid-19 in a span of two weeks in Lohegaon in Pune. His mother and two children also tested positive for the virus and are undergoing treatment. An Air Force officer lost his wife and three relatives to Covid-19 in a span of two weeks in Lohegaon in Pune. His mother and two children also tested positive for the virus and are undergoing treatment.
Arun Gaikwad, a superintendent (logistics) with the Indian Air Force, lost his father-in-law in January this year. His wife’s family, who were living in Dhanori, held a pooja in his memory on March 15. “My father-in-law had died of a brain stroke on January 15. As per the custom, my in-laws had organised a pooja at their residence in Dhanori. I had also gone there but I left the place early,” said Gaikwad.
The next day, Gaikwad’s brother-in-law Rohit Jadhav (38) developed fever and was admitted to a hospital. Jadhav’s mother Alka (62) and elder brother Atul (42) also developed Covid symptoms and were admitted to hospitals.
On March 28, Gaikwad’s wife Vaishali, a 42-year-old with a heart ailment, developed a breathing problem.
“I called up several hospitals but none of them had an oxygen bed available. One of my cousins then told me that Bharati hospital had a bed at Katraj. I took my wife there around 1 pm on March 28. However, the hospital doctors said she needed a ventilator bed as her blood oxygen level was oscillating between 70 and 80 per cent. They asked me to take her elsewhere as they did not have a ventilator bed vacant,” said Gaikwad.
Gaikwad claimed he was turned away by doctors at PMC’s jumbo facility in Shivajinagar even though it showed 25 beds were vacant.
“The Bharati hospital was kind enough to provide me a cardiac ambulance. We then proceeded to Jumbo hospital and reached there at 3 pm. To my utter shock, the gates of the hospital were locked and they refused to open the gates. After repeating knocking, they then asked me to call the doctors on helpline numbers. It took my 15 minutes to get in touch with the doctors. The doctors then said they will get back to me. Half an hour later, they said they don’t have a vacant bed. I told them that their dashboard was showing 25 beds. They said the information on the dashboard was incorrect,” he said, adding that the doctors were not ready to examine the patient.
From the jumbo hospital, Gaikwad took his wife to Ruby Hall clinic where he was told to go to Hinjewadi branch, a distance of at least 25 km. “Instead we went first to Sassoon which was chock-a-block with patients. By this time, I was in complete shock….I then decided to proceed to nearby PMC-run Naidu hospital. The doctors there scolded me, asking me who told me to come to Naidu…Like the jumbo hospital, they refused to even examine the patient. My wife was all the time in the ambulance, which was also running out of oxygen,” Gaikwad said.
One of his relatives then arranged a bed for his wife at Khed Shivapur hospital.
“I then took my wife to Khed Shivapur hospital and admitted her around 7 pm which was a good six hours after her breathing trouble started,” he said, adding that his wife’s oxygen level had dipped to 60 per cent by then,” he said.
Gaikwad said he spoke to his wife the next day and she said she was feeling much better. “On March 30 morning I was busy with my two children and my mother who had also been detected positive. I admitted them to a hospital. By evening, I got a call from Khed Shivapur hospital. The doctors said my wife was in extremely critical condition. When I reached the hospital, she had passed away…” he said.
His brother-in-law Rohit, who was admitted to Baner Covid Care Centre, died on April 3, mother-in-law on April 4, and another brother-in-law Atul on April 14. “My mother-in-law had asthma but the two brothers-in-law had no comorbidities. One of my brothers-in-law was constantly chatting with me on WhatsApp, he was confident he would be discharged soon…I have no clue what went wrong,” he said.
“The Jadhav family has almost been wiped out in the last 45 days. Now the wives of my two brothers-in-law, their four kids and my two kids besides my mother are there…I am worried about their future…I don’t think any other family in Pune has suffered this kind of a tragedy. We have still not come to terms with this massive loss…,” Gaikwad said.
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