Back at work a month after contracting COVID-19, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain today emphasised that government hospitals in the national capital are "world class", saying he was shifted out because the state hospital's permission to administer plasma therapy had lapsed. The Aam Aadmi Party leader said that he had lost his father-in-law just a day before being taken to a private hospital and his family "panicked".
"The Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, where I was first admitted in the middle of the night, is better than any private facility. When my condition deteriorated and the doctors decided to give me plasma, it did not have the permission for it; even LNJP's permission had lapsed. I wanted to wait to get permission, but doctors and family said no," he told NDTV.
Our hospitals finally got the permission to give CPT to coronavirus patients after 10 days , Mr Jain said, adding that till four days ago he had to take oxygen every day. "I was allowed to resume work after I could manage without oxygen for a few days," the minister said about his personal struggle with the coronavirus.
Mr Jain had tested positive for COVID-19 on June 17, a day after he was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital in the national capital after running high-grade fever and suffering sudden drop in oxygen levels. He had first tested negative for the virus. His second test, however, came positive.
He was shifted to Max Hospital's Saket facility in south Delhi after his condition worsened. He was put on oxygen support. His health improved after he was subjected to plasma therapy, an experimental procedure.
Within two days of getting CPT he was shifted out of the ICU, and discharged within a week's time.
