Centenarian wins battle against Covid in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, Aug 3 (IANS) Covid-19 induced gloom situation across Odisha with over 50 deaths reported during the past several days, but bucking the trend, a 100-year-old man has defeated the virus and returned home, officials said Tuesday.Brundaban Samal, a resident of Jharpada area of Bhubaneswar, walked out of the hospital on Tuesday with his family members being effusive in their praise of the treatment provided to him."We are thankful to the doctors, nurses, and paramedics for the care they took of my grandfather," his grandson Alok Samal said. The nurses fed the patient with their own hands, he added.Samal was admitted into the SUM Covid Hospital in a serious condition on July 26 after testing positive for Covid-19 and was rushed into the ICU.Doctors treating him found that he had developed pneumonia and had difficulty in breathing. "It was a challenge to treat such an old person who had a cyst in the kidney, but we did what we could under the circumstances," a doctor said.Samal is the first centenarian who had been treated at the Covid Hospital and emerged victorious in the battle against the pandemic, an official of the hospital said.
--IANS bbm/vd