An 18-year-old youth in a small village of Telangana climbed a tree soon after he was diagnosed positive for Covid-19, not in fear but to save his parents and sister from contracting the infection. He had spent 11 days on the tree before returning home safely.
Ramawat Shiva Naik, an engineering student at college in Hyderabad, had set up his own innovative 'isolation facility' on the tree near his house. His college was closed due to the second wave of Covid.
A resident of Kothanandikonda village in Adavidevulapally mandal of Nalgonda district, Shiva had returned home but soon found himself Covid positive. To help his family, he started working as 'hamali' (porter) at a paddy procurement centre set up by the state government in the village to purchase paddy from farmers.
As he was suffering from fever and had other suspected symptoms of Covid-19, he underwent the test at a primary health centre (PHC) , located about five km from his village. He tested positive for Covid on May 4 but since he had mild symptoms, a health worker at PHC told him that there is no need for hospitalisation but advised him to isolate at home.
Innovative idea
With four members of family sharing a one-room house with a single washroom, Shiva found that home isolation is not possible. With no government-run isolation facility in his village or in surrounding villages, the youth hit upon innovative idea.
"I had no other option. I did not want my family members to suffer because of me," said Shiva. Since he had learnt that Covid-infected people are suffering from low saturation level, he chose the tree for his isolation hoping that this will help him maintain good oxygen levels.
He selected a tree in front of his house as the isolation facility. The tree, which is called 'Ganuga' in Telugu (Pongame tree), is also said to have some medicinal properties. Using bamboo sticks, ropes and few other items, he made a cot and tied it to the tree branches. Shiva's parents used to keep his meals, water and other requirements in bucket and he used to pull up the same with a rope.
Alone but busy on Mobile
Shiva remained in touch with family and friends through his mobile phone, which also proved useful to kill the time. He sent a few messages calling up on local authorities to set up an isolation centre in the area.
Responding to his appeal and growing requests from people in his village and about a dozen other villages, the authorities set up an isolation centre late last week. They converted a hostel meant for students belonging to Scheduled Tribes into an isolation centre. They also persuaded Shiva to move to the centre. He will soon be completing his isolation period.
Shiva's incident highlighted the problems faced by Covid infected in villages. Living in small houses with no or single washroom, they can't isolate themselves.
In some instances, last year and also during the ongoing second wave, individuals who test positive were not allowed to enter into villages. At few places, Covid-infected patients are living in isolation either in huts outside the villages or in the fields.
