SIK – “My elderly parents promised to stay together to the end, and both passed away just two days apart,” said Zuriyani Ramli, who lost her parents due to Covid-19 on Friday and yesterday.
Her father and mother were both receiving treatment at Sik Hospital.
Zuriyani, 42 – who also contracted Covid-19, and was being treated at the same hospital – regrets the fact that she could not see her late mother, Salmah Shariff, 74, for the last time, before her remains were brought out of the hospital for burial.
However, the housewife had the chance to spend time with her father, Ramli Awang, 82, as they were both receiving treatment in the same ward, up until the senior citizen breathed his last.
“The three of us were treated at the same hospital. I was placed in the same ward as my father, while my mother was admitted to the emergency ward.
“I could not meet my mother when she was admitted to hospital until she died at 11.50pm on Friday.
“My father and I… had time to recite the Yassin together. When his condition deteriorated, I was there with him and taught him to recite the syahadah.
“He breathed his last in front of me at 12.05am yesterday,” she said, tearing up when contacted last night.
Zuriyani, who lives in Kg Kota Bukit, Jeneri, with her husband and five children, said her father, who suffered a stroke, and mother lived with her for the past few months.
“Prior to this, my parents were living in Kg Batu 9, Gurun, with my younger brother, who is a bachelor.
“I invited my father to live with me so I could look after him, and my mother came to live with us soon after.”
Regarding the Covid-19 infection, Zuriyani said she was the first to test positive, after experiencing cough and fever for a week.
When she went to hospital to get her cough medicine on Friday, she was asked to do a swab test.
“When I found out that I was positive for Covid-19, I immediately called my brother and told him to take my father to hospital, as my father had a fever for a few days.
“My mother also had a cough, but she kept telling me that it was normal to due to her old age.”
Once her father tested positive, the hospital fetched her mother, who was also found to be infected, and admitted her to the emergency ward due to her weak condition.
“I never thought that they would test positive. I expected my dad to be in critical condition due to his stroke.
“I honestly do not know where the infection came from because I do not go anywhere; my daily routine is to look after my parents and family.”
Her husband and their five children also underwent the Covid-19 screening, but have yet to get their results.
“I remember that my father said he wanted to celebrate Aidiladha with me and my family this year, and he told us to not skip our daily prayers,” she said, adding that the remains of her parents were laid to rest in the cemetery in their village.
Kedah Health director Dr Othman Warijo said the elderly couple were admitted to Sik Hospital on Friday, and showed respiratory infection symptoms.
Their deaths were due to Covid-19 pneumonia, he added. – Bernama, July 12, 2021
