From one ordeal to another, Assam’s kidney patient faces trouble at Jorhat’s isolation facility

Kamal Agarwal, owner of Durga Steels in Jorhat, went through the ordeal of travelling 60 hours straight from Maharashtra to Jorhat after having one of his kidneys removed. But after arrival in Jorhat, Agarwal along with his family was put into the isolation facility of Jorhat Medical College Hospital (JMCH). Agarwal’s ordeal continues at the facility.

“The bed is too hard and I suffered from severe back pain last night. In the morning, I had to take the aid of my wife to go to the washroom,” he said adding that this was probably due to his operation. “My son, wife, brother and I have all tested negative for COVID19, yet we are not being released. The food here is also distressing me,” he said.

He hoped that the district administration would understand his plight and release all of them at the earliest. “After I reached Jorhat on April 23, I came straight to JMCH to have myself and my family tested (his wife and brother had accompanied him to Mumbai),” said Agarwal. “And they recommended home quarantine with separate bedrooms for each one of us and we also ensured them to strictly follow the instructions. But we were picked up on April 25 for reasons not known and shifted to the isolation ward,” he said.