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  • Fri. Nov 22nd, 2024

‘You can’t even wish them goodbye’: Families feel helpless as a growing number of patients enter intensive care

‘You can’t even wish them goodbye’: Families feel helpless as a growing number of patients enter intensive care

Abhi Nair stood at his bedroom window and took a photo of his father being rolled towards the back of an ambulance.

“It is heartbreaking,” he said.

Abhi’s father, Viswanathan Nair, is one of 31 people in Victoria struggling to overcome coronavirus in intensive care.

Viswanathan began feeling unwell in late June.

By July 4, he had been admitted to Footscray Hospital and eight days later, he was taken to the intensive care unit (ICU) and placed in a bed shielded with thick, transparent plastic.

The growing threat of coronavirus is illustrated in the cases and deaths released each day like clockwork.

But behind the statistics are families who are not only mourning the loss of those they loved, but grappling with the pain of not being able to say goodbye.

Abhi Nair hopes his family never becomes one of them.

A man wearing a mask and sitting in a wheelchair is wheeled to the back of an ambulance by a paramedic in full PPE gear.

The last time Abhi saw his father was when he was taken to hospital last month.(Supplied: Abhi Nair)

His father is struggling to make progress, Abhi said.

“I guess there’s very slight improvement. The doctors have pretty much said it’s a very long journey for him to get better.

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