Rabia Ahmed from Kabul had come to visit her grandchildren living in Noida (Representational)
A 105-year-old woman from Afghanistan was discharged from a hospital in Greater Noida on Friday after recovering from COVID-19 in a fortnight, officials said.
Rabia Ahmed was admitted to the private Sharda Hospital on July 16 in a "life-threatening condition" after getting infected with the novel coronavirus and spent a week on ventilator, they said.
She had tested positive for the infection at a private hospital in Noida after which she was brought to Sharda Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 facility. She was tested again on Thursday and the result came out to be negative, paving the way for her discharge on Friday ahead of the Islamic festival of Bakrid, hospital officials said.
Ahmed, who hails from Kabul in Afghanistan, had come to visit her grandchildren who are living in Noida earlier this year but eventually got stuck in the lockdown, they said.
"When the patient was brought, she had fever, severe breathlessness and pneumonia. She was also suffering from Alzheimer's. She was unable to identify any relatives also when she was admitted here," Dr Ashutosh Niranjan, the medical superintendent of Sharda Hospital, said.
"She had urinal infection and her ECG was also abnormal. The patient was in a critical state and immediately shifted on ventilator support. She was suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)," Niranjan said.
The treatment started in compliance with the protocols laid by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the hospital's own norms for COVID-19, he said.
"Her condition started improving after ventilator support for seven days. She was given a diet with high-level protein. After this, she was taken off ventilator support and the woman even started recognizing the health care staff who were attending her in the ICU," Niranjan said.
"Now her condition is much better. She is also eating properly. She was discharged from the hospital on Friday after the report of her COVID-19 test done on Thursday came negative," the senior doctor said.
The woman's grandson Ahmad Fawad, who came to take her back from the hospital on Friday, said, "Before Bakrid, the hospital has given my family a gift for a lifetime."
"Everyone in the family will recite the festival prayer together and celebrate Eid," Fawad said, as his eyes welled up with joy.
Hospital spokeserson Ajit Kumar said Gautam Buddh Nagar's additional chief medical officer VK Singh and additional District Magistrate Diwakar Singh were present during the woman's discharge and gave her gifts, wishing her well.
"The hospital staff also presented flowers to the 105-year-old woman as she left the hospital defeating coronavirus after a 15-day fight," Mr Kumar added.
He said 21 other COVID-19 patients were discharged from the hospital after recovery on Friday.