KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 (NNN-Bernama) — Down with COVID-19 like symptoms, with no hospital beds or oxygen supply available, on Monday Shakir Hussain the Malaysian National News Agency’s (Bernama) correspondent in New Delhi was in despair.
Only days earlier Shakir, an Indian national, had filed stories to Bernama’s newsdesk in Kuala Lumpur over the desperate situation in many major cities in India as the COVID-19 infections surged in record numbers.
Shakir’s condition was a cause of concern for Bernama’s newsdesk back in Kuala Lumpur after an editor asked him via Whatapp to call the Malaysian High Commission and find out the status of Malaysians there.
His shocking reply was “I ‘m in emergency room. Getting oxygen support”. Subsequent messages from his wife Zia Saher on his deteriorating condition and their desperation for a bed and oxygen left the newsdesk worried and helpless.
Zia had contacted Bernama’s former New Delhi correspondent M. Saraswathi seeking assistance as Shakir, 50, was struggling to find oxygen and medical attention. He had been ill for over a week and it was suspected it could be due to COVID-19.
Realising that Bernama could not do much looking at the COVID-19 mayhem in New Delhi, Shakir’s wife was advised to seek assistance from the Malaysian High Commission there, which responded promptly.
The High Commission responded out of goodwill by providing him with an oxygen concentrator. However, the High Commission’s effort to secure a hospital bed for Shakir seemed futile due to the COVID-19 tsunami in India that overwhelmed the country’s healthcare facilities.
“The Malaysian High Commission helped us by sending oxygen concentrator. This is already a good help. He (Shakir) survived due to it,” she said thanking the High Commission.
Zia also said the family finally managed to find a bed at the Alshifa Multispeciality Hospital in, Okhla, New Delhi after a frantic search, though not to their expectation.
“Shakir is being treated at a small hospital in Delhi and we are looking for a better hospital to get further treatment,” she said.
When contacted on Friday, Zia said her husband is still in the same hospital and his condition is stable except for the occasional drop in the SpO2 (blood oxygen level).
For Bernama’s newsdesk, Shakir’s fate provides a glimpse of the desperation that Indians are going through in New Delhi as COVID-19 numbers in India skyrocketed.
The Agra born Shakir has has been in journalism for almost three decades and was first appointed as Bernama’s correspondent in New Delhi from 2001 to 2005 before joining Dubai-based Gulf News daily and other news based organisations. He returned to Bernama in 2016.
Being an avid writer, he authored a political novel, The Merchant King, published in 2012, and also wrote political articles for Turkey’s Daily Sabah. He also handled a six-months media relations project for Malaysia’s Tune Hotels Group.
COVID-19 cases in India has increased rapidly, putting pressure on its healthcare system with people across the country scrambling for life-saving oxygen supplies and hospital beds.
India set another new global record on Friday for daily coronavirus cases, registering more than 386,452 new cases in the past 24 hours. The country’s virus-linked death toll has now surpassed 208,000.
Meanwhile, Bernama’s CEO Mokhtar Hussain and Editor-in-Chief Abdul Rahman Ahmad thanked the Malaysian High Commission in New Delhi for the assistance rendered to Shakir.
— NNN-BERNAMA
