A 51-year-old man who tested positive for Covid-19 and was on ventilator support for 38 days returned home on Friday, cured of the infection.

Doctors who treated him cited the case to drive home the point that families should not lose hope if a patient infected with the coronavirus is put on a ventilator.

The middle-aged man was admitted to AMRI Hospitals Dhakuria on March 29. The next day he was put on a ventilator.

“He had been coughing for some time and had fever two days before he was admitted to the hospital. We did not think he could be infected with the coronavirus because he had not travelled abroad recently and met no one who had been abroad,” said the man’s wife, who was struggling hard to rein in her emotions while speaking.

Saswati Sinha, a critical care specialist who led the team that treated the man, said they kept him on the ventilator even after he tested negative for Covid-19 towards the middle of April to let his lungs heal.

An official of the hospital said the man had first tested negative on April 17 and again on April 18. The discharge protocol for Covid-19 patients says a patient could be discharged if she/he tests negative twice within 24 hours.

The opinion of the doctors treating the person is also important. In the case of the 51-year-old, the condition of his lungs did not allow doctors to discharge him immediately after he tested negative. “He had very severe pneumonia. He had developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and the lungs were not able to absorb oxygen. As a result, his lungs needed some time to heal,” said Sinha.

“He was taken out of 24X7 ventilator support on May 2 and then put on a partial ventilator for 12 hours a day. Since Tuesday (May 5), he did not need any ventilator support,” said an official of the hospital.

Sinha said there was no reason to think that someone on a ventilator would not pull through. “A ventilator is a life-saving tool and it is the reason why many patients with severely damaged lungs survive. Being on a ventilator is not the end of the road,” she said.

The man, who runs an NGO and can be seen helping survivors and disaster management personnel at any disaster site with his first-aid providing team, tested positive the day after he was admitted.

“I could first meet my husband almost four weeks after hospitalisation, when he started recovering. I did not tell my mother-in-law that he had tested positive for Covid-19. After he started to recover, I told her everything. She is now relieved,” said the man’s wife.

“I am indebted to the doctors, nurses and all other staff at the hospital. I am also indebted to my neighbours who delivered essentials at our doorstep.”

On Wednesday, a 68-year-old cancer patient who had tested positive for Covid-19 was discharged from Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals. The man, a resident of Assam’s Silchar, is suffering from oral cancer and also has a history of gall bladder cancer, coronary bypass surgery and high blood sugar, an official of the hospital said.

He was admitted to the hospital on April 20 for treatment of a mouth tumour.