After 18 days in the hospital, a week of which was spent battling for life in the ICU, Santosh Kumar, 43, found himself spiralling into depression. Surviving the Coronavirus, he realised, was just the beginning. Obesity and diabetes had led to severe health complications, reducing him to an invalid. He could no longer stand on his feet. He spent his days lying on the bed in the COVID-19 ward of Hyderabad's Apollo Hospital—the oxygen cylinder, a permanent fixture by his side. Worse was that time of day when he wanted to pass stools or urine. Because he couldn't get up, he often soiled the bed. Santosh, originally from Jagtial in Telangana, didn't share his condition with his brother Mahesh, who was also struggling to look after their COVID-infected parents, admitted to the same hospital as him. Mahesh was finding it hard to afford the treatment and had enquired if he could take Santosh home. "But, the problem was that he was far from okay. He could barely walk three steps, and that too with the help of a nurse," says Mahesh, in a telephonic interview with Sunday mid-day. On the suggestion of one of the specialists, he was referred to the Post COVID Rehab Centre, run by Hyderabad-based NGO, Helping Hand Foundation. Santosh refused point blank. "My brother had had enough of the hospital. He was extremely disturbed. We had to counsel him for over an hour-and-a-half, before he agreed to be shifted." That decision was the only bright spot to an otherwise difficult September.

Within three days of moving to the rehabilitation centre, Santosh could breathe without continuous need for an oxygen cylinder. By the fifth day, with the help of regular physiotherapy, he had started walking on a treadmill. Ten days on, Santosh was ready to leave the centre.