45 Year Old Women missing during Covid Pandemic, Investigatioj Underway

GURGAON: It took counsellors two days to coax a 45-year-old woman out of a nearly three-year self-confinement she had imposed on herself and her son, whose health she feared for after the outbreak of Covid as the boy is asthmatic.Sujan Majhi, her husband who rented a separate house when she refused to let him in, fearing it would expose her son to the virus, told TOI on Wednesday it was the fear of an unknown disease that triggered his wife’s paranoia about the boy’s health.Her extreme actions, an emotional Sujan said, stemmed from “a mother’s love”.Worry about a virus the world knew little of at the time led to psychosis that may explain her decision to stay in self-imposed isolation in their two-bedroom house in Maruti Kunj, medical experts said.The 45-year-old woman was convinced to come out of the house on Tuesday after the counsellors told her they needed to make sure she was fit to take care of her son.Like most of the country, the Majhi family was restricted to their house as the first hard lockdown was enforced in March 2020. In August 2020, Sujan’s company summoned him back to his office in the city as confinement restrictions were being lifted. At the time, Delhi-NCR was the epicenter of the nationwide Covid-19 outbreak, and widespread uncertainty surrounded the virus that caused it. Fearing that their son would be exposed to the virus, his wife was not comfortable with the notion and ultimately did not allow him to return home. “The patient suffers from delusion (a medical condition in which a person has an unshakeable belief in something that may not be true or rational).” Not allowed back into the house, he had rented a nearby apartment and was regularly delivering groceries and other necessities to his wife and son. “During the lockdown, my wife became fiercely protective of our son and would not allow anyone to touch him. She initially refused to come out, informing the specialists that she would hurt herself if they attempted to compel her. Experts say she consented after being told they needed to assess her ability to care for her son. At 9 a.m. on Tuesday, she left her home, secured the door, and permitted a police and medical team to accompany her to the police outpost and then to Civil Hospital. Counsellors entered the house with the assistance of a police team and a locksmith to retrieve the boy. “The boy was sitting on a cot. He came with us easily… The house was filthy. There was garbage, including vegetable peels and wrappers. There was also a pile of human hair. The woman must have been cutting her son’s hair while they were locked inside,” said Sonu Shekand, the counsellor who entered the house. She refused to remain anywhere and demanded to return home to her son, according to Dr. Saini. She became more composed when her son was brought to the hospital and they were reunited. The child, who is unable to go outside, has trouble walking due to Vitamin D and iron deficiencies, according to physicians. “This prompted us to refer her to PGIMS-Rohtak, as she requires long-term treatment and counseling,” Dr. Saini said.The 10-year-old boy has been isolated for so long that it will take him some time to be able to socialize, physicians said. “When we removed the face mask during the medical examination, he asked us to put it back on to protect him from Covid-19,” said Dr. Manav Chaudhary, who is in charge of emergency care at the Civil Hospital. Dr. Saini stated that patients with psychosis typically recover within a month if they are given the appropriate care. Wednesday, Sujan expressed his optimism that their trials will soon end. “The last three years have been extremely difficult, and I want my wife and son to recover so that our home can return to normalcy,” he said. .Three-day regional sports meet begins