By Patrick Hansda
New Delhi: Bahdur Bhai says he is alive because two Catholic nuns had come to his village in Gujarat, a western Indian state, when he was struggle with Covid-19.
After the resident of Retna village in Surat district complained of fever and other ailments his relatives took him to a Community Health Center in nearby Zankhvav, a small town.
“I was diagnosed as Covid positive. As I refused to go to the Surat Covid hospital, they admitted me to a private hospital at Bharuch. The doctors lost hope as my oxygen saturation was only 77 percent and I was very sick and breathless very often. They discharged me and told me to rest at home.”
It was then Sisters Annette Fernandes and Lawrencia San Thome of the Daughters of the Cross congregation visited his village to conduct a mobile dispensary.
The nuns, who work closely with the Baroda Diocesan Social Service Society that reached out to Covid patients, examined the Hindu villager and gave him free medicines.
“They taught me proning and other breathing exercises which helped me and I started feeling better and my oxygen saturation also increased to 90 percent,” Bhai explained.
Sister Fernandes, who is incharge of First Level Treatment Centre Caritas India set up in Khedut Vikas Mandal, put Bhai some treatment that helped him. “My oxygen level has gone up to 97 percent now and I am feeling stronger and can do some work. They saved my life,” he told Matters India.
Sister Fernandes, who is a doctor, says like Bhai most villagers refuse to go to community health or public health centers for Covid tests.
“They were afraid that their names would be registered and that they would be forced to go to Surat for admission and treatment. They have heard that they would be shifted to Surat Covid hospitals for treatment and would die and even their bodies would not be handed over to the relatives,” explained the member of
The Covid centers set up by Caritas India have helped dispel the fear among the villagers in Gujarat.
The social service wing of the Catholic Church in India has established three First Level Treatment Centres and one Second Level Treatment Centre to support the Covid affected people in the state.
The organisation has set up 80 Covid centers across the country to support the Covid patients and address the health emergency.
The centers provide institutionalized care and treatment to mild or asymptomatic Covid positive patients.
The center in Zankhvav is equipped to provide essential Covid care but the frequency of patients was very low, Fernandes said.
Most villagers, she added, are marginal farmers, who depend on their scarce land or work as laborers on other`s fields.
“Those who work in the cities and factories could not go to work and lost their source of income. The economic situation of the people has gone worse as they are left with very little money. Many are sick but not ready to get treated because of fear and lack of money,” Sister Fernandes explained.
A team comprising of a nun nurse, village health workers, village leaders and youth from 15 worst affected villages of Surat and Bharuch districts helped set up medical camps. The medical kits supported by Caritas India have become handy to set up Covid care camps in villages.
The camps have so far treated 148 children, 437 women and 394 men, Sister Fernandes said.
Most ailments were related to fever, respiratory infections, gastrointestinal problems, urinary tract infections, skin infections, musculoskeletal problems, pediatric cases, gynecology and obstetrics cases, eyes, ears and throat infections, she added.