Family deserts deaf-mute as 'corona patient'

RAIPUR: In the thick of the fight against coronavirus, a family has abandoned a deaf-mute person at AIIMS-Raipur after admitting him as a Covid-19 suspect. The address they gave is fake and the phone not in service. AIIMS staff are having to take care of him even as they battle the pandemic. The authorities are trying to locate his family with the help of police.
The man, aged around 49, was brought by his family to AIIMS-Raipur on March 29.They pressed doctors to test him for Covid-19, insisting that he had showed symptoms of the disease at home.
In these times, medical authorities are duty bound to admit and test anyone suspected of having coronavirus infection. Also, he appeared to be very weak, so AIIMS-Raipur put him in isolation and tested him for the virus. The result came back negative that very day but his family members had disappeared and gone incommunicado.
"It is very unfortunate that some people have abandoned their family member here. The family is untraceable, so we have shifted the man to the general medicine ward, where he is being cared for by medical staff.
They are feeding him and assisting him in standing," AIIMS deputy director (administration) Neeresh Sharma told TOI .