A 95-year-old woman who had been hospitalized with severe COVID-19 symptoms was discharged from the South China Hospital of Shenzhen University (SZU) in Longgang District on Monday morning, the Daily Sunshine reported.
At 9 a.m. Monday, the elderly woman’s daughter-in-law surnamed He went to the hospital to pick her up. She said her mother-in-law was the first in the family to get infected with COVID at the end of 2022.
After this, He and her husband also got infected. Luckily, they just showed mild symptoms. However, her mother-in-law couldn’t stop coughing. He and her husband thus decided to send their mother to hospital for treatment.
“At that time, there was a shortage in hospital beds. We came to the hospital after knowing it has beds available with a good environment and medical capacity,” He said.
He appreciated the hospital care and added that “my grandson is over 20 years old now. We are a four-generation family. I spent dozens of Spring Festivals with my mother-in-law so we hope we could have her back home for the Chinese New Year,” He said.
According to Gao Xuhui, a doctor from the hospital, the 95-year-old woman had kept coughing for two weeks before she went to the hospital. The CT scan results showed pneumonia in both of her lungs and her blood pressure was also a little high. Her overall condition was serious.
The hospital organized a multidisciplinary medical consultation for the elderly woman. At present, the 95-year-old patient’s lung infection was cured.
Gao said most of the severe and critical COVID cases they handled are aged over 70 and advised the elderly to pay special attention when infected with COVID. Multidisciplinary teams will produce a better result for those with severe COVID symptoms, according to Gao.
The number of ICU (intensive care unit) beds in South China Hospital of SZU has now expanded to 30. In addition, there are 30 convertible monitoring beds. Since last December, the hospital has accepted 325 severe COVID patients.