COVID-19: COVID-19 taught me to be grateful - Patient

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 -- It was indeed a memorable experience, right from the ambulance ride to the hospital, up to the minute of being discharged from the hospital, said a recovered COVID-19 patient in his Twitter post that had gone viral yesterday. 

The user with the Twitter handle @zulafandiharris said he was all stunned, sad and worried at the same time when he was on the ambulance being taken to the hospital after being confirmed to have tested positive for the virus.

“Before we left for the hospital, I managed to tell my son to stay with his aunty until we get home from the hospital,” he said, admitting that he had cried in the ambulance.

In his tweet, he said that despite the despair, since he and his wife were confirmed to be positive for COVID-19 on March 9, he had learnt to be grateful of many things especially during his 12-day treatment at Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

His post, which was uploaded on Tuesday had so far been retweeted 16,000 times and received more than  12,000 ‘likes’.

He said he was most grateful that none of his close contacts, including his son, were infected.

In the hospital, he shared a ward with three other COVID-19 patients while his wife was admitted in the ward next door.

Throughout the 12 days, he forged a close friendship with the three new friends he gained in the ward and said that they had kept positive and supported each other. 

During treatment, the patients were served with tasty and healthy meals, he said.

Being warded also gave him the chance to witness first hand the hard work put by the frontliners into fighting the virus. 

“Sometimes we could not differentiate between the nurses, doctors or cleaners, as they would come in fully covered in their personal protective equipment (PPE) suits. I felt so sorry to see them sweating in the heavy suits although the aircondition was always turned on. Please appreciate their sacrifices,” he said.

On his last day in the hospital, he was transferred to an open ward which housed 30 COVID-19 patients : “ It was a torture trying to get some sleep that night, and I kept praying that I would be discharged quickly, and on the 12th day, I was actually discharged. Thanks to Allah, it was an experience I will never forget,” he said.

-- BERNAMA