If you develop severe symptoms after contracting Covid-19, your time in the hospital will not only be painful and uncomfortable, but incredibly lonely as well.
Because the coronavirus is especially contagious, visitors are typically not allowed in Covid-19 wards to prevent further spread of the disease.
While this precautionary measure is understandable, it also causes emotional distress for patients and their relatives, particularly if they succumb to the disease.
For one Palestinian man, this distance was too much to bear, and so he resorted to some unconventional means to see his ill mother.
Man Climbed Wall to Look at His COVID-19-Positive Mum on Hospital Window Ledge Every Day
When 73-year-old Rasmi Suwaiti was hospitalised in Hebron State Hospital, West Bank after contracting Covid-19, her son was told that he was not allowed to visit her.
According to NDTV, patients infected by the highly infectious coronavirus are kept in isolation to prevent the risk of spreading infection.
Desperate to see his mother, Jihad Al-Suwaiti scaled the hospital wall and sat on a ledge outside his mother’s room so he could check on her.
The image quickly went viral on social media.
The 30-year-old man was reportedly the youngest of her children. He waited outside the ledge every day to ensure that his ailing mother was being treated well.
After repeatedly scaling the wall to see his mother, Al-Suwaiti was finally allowed to visit her in her room one day, according to Al Jazeera.
Sadly, his mother passed away soon after the visit.
According to NDTV, the 73-year-old was suffering from leukaemia when she tested positive for Covid-19. She was admitted to the Hebron State Hospital and spent five days there receiving treatment.
“I sat helplessly behind the outside window of the intensive care room, watching her last moments,” her son said.
The image touched the hearts of many, including a representative to the United Nations, Mohamad Safa, who shared the image along with an illustration.
The son of a Palestinian woman who was infected with COVID-19 climbed up to her hospital room to sit and see his mother every night until she passed away. pic.twitter.com/31wCCNYPbs
— Mohamad Safa (@mhdksafa) July 18, 2020
What an amazing son.
Covid-19 Patients Often Have to Die Alone
The only consolation a dying person has is the comfort of being surrounded by loved ones as they pass.
Sadly, coronavirus patients are robbed of this small solace, leaving them to take their last breaths alone.
And it’s just as tough on the family members of the patient, who can’t even say goodbye before their loved ones pass away.
As one Indonesian man whose father died due to Covid-19 said:
“I was brokenhearted as I couldn’t see my dad’s face for the last time, without prayers, without mom by my side, […] I didn’t even have time to buy flowers, there was just a cross with his name written on it and the best picture of him”.
Wakes for Covid-19 Patients Allowed in Singapore
Funeral wakes can still be held for those who pass away from Covid-19 infection, but they must be no longer than three days, according to the National Environmental Agency (NEA).
Physical contact with the bodies is also not permissible.
Healthcare workers who have been trained will prepare the bodies of the deceased for cremation or burial in hospitals. The bodies will be double-bagged before being placed in a hermetically sealed coffin.
Cremation is strongly recommended, but burial will be permitted if there are strong religious reasons, said the NEA.
Before phase 2, wakes are capped to a maximum of 10 people there at any single time and if you’re not careful enough, you get shamed online if some overzealous netizen decides to serve up some “justice”.
Instead of a cap of 10 pax, it has now been increased to a cap of 20 people at the wake at any one point in time.
Of course, masks and safe-distancing are still mandatory.