One of Calcutta Rescue’s elderly doctors has recovered from Covid and is back at work with support from an insurance scheme set up by the charity.
Dr Shyamal Pal, who is 73 and works in the Street Medicine team, tested positive for the virus on December 12.
A few days later his blood oxygen levels sank to 93% – which is worryingly low.
He was rushed into hospital and his family would have faced a huge bill for his medical treatment.
But the charity had taken out a Covid insurance policy covering all its staff.
It provides up to Rupees 5 Lakh (£5,000) for hospital treatment, and this swiftly paid out 95% of the cost of his treatment.
Dr Pal, who works on the Street Medicine team, was discharged from hospital on December 21 and, although he still feels weak, he has no other symptoms and has been able to return to work.
He currently working from home, doing consultations and providing support by phone.
Dr Pal said: “My sincere thanks to the members of the CR family for their wonderful support and help at the time of my need.”
As of now, a total of 10 staff had Covid out of which 6 were symptomatic, 3 were asymptomatic and one staff, Uttara died last year on 19 July.
