Nurses in Raipur hospital 'nurse' baby of COVID-19 woman

Raipur, Apr 15 () While combating the deadlycoronavirus, four nurses of the Indian Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS) had not envisaged one day they would have toplay the role of a mother in the city-based hospital.

With the mother and two other family members of athree-month-old baby boy infected with the novel coronavirusand undergoing treatment at AIIMS Raipur, the four nurses arenow giving motherly care to the infant.

The AIIMS on Wednesday posted a video on its Facebookpage wherein two nurses, donning protective gear, are seenfeeding milk to the baby through a bottle.

"The 27-year-old woman (the infant's mother) testedpositive on April 12. Her two kids - a 22-month-old girl and athree-month-old boy - were also brought along with her toAIIMS and kept in a separate room in the isolation ward,"AIIMS Raipurs Public Relations Officer (PRO) S S Sharma told.

"Since no close relative of the woman was immediatelyavailable to take care of the kids, our nursing staff cameforward to look after them," he said.

Later, the womans brother was called to take care ofthe children but he also tested positive for coronavirus,Sharma said.

Then doctors called the maternal grandmother of thechildren but unfortunately she was also found positive for theviral infection, he said.

As the two children were in direct contact with theinfected persons, their samples were also sent for screeningwhich came out negative, he said.

However, a second test on both kids will be conductedin the next five days and if the results came negative theywill be handed over to their other family members, he said.

The two kids have been kept under observation and arebeing fully taken care of by the nurses of the isolation ward,Sharma said.

Their father, who later reached the hospital, islooking after his elder child, while the infant boy is undercare of four members of the nursing staff, he said.

As many as 20 COVID-19 patients are undergoingtreatment at the government-run AIIMS.

All of them are from Katghora town of Korba district.

Katghora, located around 200 km from the state capitalRaipur, has emerged as the state's top COVID-19 hotspot,recording 24 cases so far.

Till now, 33 coronavirus positive cases have beenreported in the state. Of these, 17 have been discharged afterrecovering from the infection. TKPRSY RSY