Bharat Panchal
MUMBAI: A Vikhroli man returned home on Monday after spending 85 days in a hospital battling Covid-19. As his ambulance exited the gates of Powai s L H Hiranandani Hospital, the family of 54-year-old Bharat Panchal admitted it was a day they weren’t sure would arrive.
Panchal, who owns and manages a chemist shop in Vikhroli, came down with a fever on April 8, around two weeks after taking one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The odds were stacked against him right from the start, said his physician brother Dr Harish Panchal, as Bharat developed lung complications in a span of four days. He went from high-flow nasal cannula oxygen requirement to non-invasive ventilation and ultimately to mechanical ventilation, all in a week’s time. His CT severity score reached 21 out of 25 at an alarming speed.