Coronavirus Outbreak: Nurses in AIIMS Raipur look after 3-month-old baby boy after mother, family test positive for COVID-19

Raipur: While combating the deadly coronavirus, four nurses of the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had not envisaged one day they would have to play the role of a mother in the city-based hospital.

With the mother and two other family members of a three-month-old baby boy infected with the novel coronavirus and undergoing treatment at AIIMS Raipur, the four nurses are now giving motherly care to the infant.

The AIIMS on Wednesday posted a video on its Facebook page wherein two nurses, donning protective gear, are seen feeding milk to the baby through a bottle.

Representational image. AP

"The 27-year-old woman (the infant's mother) tested positive on April 12. Her two kids - a 22-month-old girl and a three-month-old boy - were also brought along with her to AIIMS and kept in a separate room in the isolation ward," AIIMS Raipur Public Relations Officer (PRO) S S Sharma told PTI.

"Since no close relative of the woman was immediately available to take care of the kids, our nursing staff came forward to look after them," he said.

Later, the woman's brother was called to take care of the children but he also tested positive for coronavirus, Sharma said.

Then doctors called the maternal grandmother of the children but unfortunately, she was also found positive for the viral infection, he said.

As the two children were in direct contact with the infected persons, their samples were also sent for screening which came out negative, he said.

However, a second test on both kids will be conducted in the next five days and if the results came negative they will be handed over to their other family members, he said.

The two kids have been kept under observation and are being fully taken care of by the nurses of the isolation ward, Sharma said.

Their father, who later reached the hospital, is looking after his elder child, while the infant boy is under the care of four members of the nursing staff, he said.

As many as 20 COVID-19 patients are undergoing treatment at the government-run AIIMS.

All of them are from Katghora town of Korba district.

Katghora, located around 200 km from the state capital Raipur, has emerged as the state''s top COVID-19 hotspot, recording 24 cases so far.

Till now, 33 coronavirus positive cases have been reported in the state. Of these, 17 have been discharged after recovering from the infection.