Cheered by her doctors, 93-year-old Alye Gunduz was discharged from an Istanbul hospital after recovering from the novel coronavirus following 10 days of treatment.
Her recovery from the disease that is killing chiefly the old offered some hope to health workers at Istanbul’s Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty hospital as they battle the outbreak, which risks hitting Turkey hard.
“It is promising because patients at this age and with chronic diseases are most of the time unable to recover because they are at highest risk from COVID-19,” chief physician Zekayi Kutlubay told AFP.
“A 93-year-old woman walking out of intensive care sound and safe is inspiring for us as well as for other coronavirus patients at her age.”
Suffering from hypertension, Gunduz, a farmer from Turkey’s southeastern city of Batman, was taken to hospital on March 31 with complaints of a high fever and stomachache. She was discharged on Friday.
“I wish a speedy recovery to everyone,” the elderly woman said as she was helped by her grandson.
Turkey has registered more than 47,000 COVID-19 cases — ranking it among the 10 most infected countries in the world. It has recorded over a thousand deaths and the disease is spreading fast.
