‘I never thought it would happen to me’
Brooklyn doctor tells harrowing tale of 10-month-long recovery from COVID-19
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Almost a year after he was
fi rst infected with COVID-19
while working on the frontlines
at Brookdale Hospital, internal
medicine doctor Sabarartham
Shangmugananthan still struggles
to walk a few feet before his
oxygen levels go down.
“I never thought it would
happen to me. I’m very healthy,
never been sick,” said Shangmugananthan,
who goes by Dr.
Saba. “I knew it was a dangerous
disease, but I didn’t expect
it to come to this.”
The 62-year-old physician
and father-of-two returned to
his family and his home on Long
Island on Feb. 3, after almost a
year of being hospitalized and
slowly recovering from a nearfatal
case of the novel coronavirus
he believes he contracted at
the onset of the pandemic.
Dr. Saba has no memory of
the months he was comatose
and on a ventilator that helped
him survive the highly-contagious
respiratory illness, but
believes he caught the virus
sometime after the fi rst patients
arrived at the health facility in
mid-March.
COURIER L 6 IFE, MARCH 5-11, 2021
The hospital is surrounded
by predominantly Black and
working-class neighborhoods,
including Brownsville, East
New York, and Canarsie, and
during the early weeks of the
pandemic African-American
and Hispanic New Yorkers died
at twice the rate from the virus
compared to their white and
Asian counterparts.
Due to scarce testing at the
time, it’s possible the veteran
physician got the bug from a
patient who hadn’t been registered
positive by the hospital.
“Maybe the other patients
that were not documented as
COIVD-19, we might have been
exposed to them,” he said.
One of his colleagues tested
positive fi rst but only had a
mild case of the illness and returned
after 10 days. Dr. Saba
tested positive on March 24.
“I had minor symptoms,” he
said.
Worsening symptoms
He stayed home for a few
days, taking medication and
self-isolating in his bedroom
from the rest of his family. Not
long after, he started having
trouble breathing so a friend
and fellow physician ran some
blood tests for him.
The results showed low
blood counts, deranged kidney
functions, and dehydration,
and Dr. Saba was on the fi rst
ambulance to a local hospital.
“I don’t remember much after
going to the hospital,” he said.
Doctors intubated him
and put him on a ventilator in
early April, and soon several
of his organs failed, including
his lungs and kidneys.
He was comatose and in intensive
care for three months
during which time he suffered
infections like pneumonia
and had to get several blood
transfusions. At one point his
family was ready to sign a donot
resuscitate order because
they didn’t know if he would
make it.
“My family was not sure
whether I would come back or
not, they were talking about
palliative care and getting
ready to sign a DNR,” Dr. Saba
said.
However, fellow doctors
advised the family otherwise,
saying he had a good chance
of recovering due to having no
history of health issues.
Signs of hope
Dr Saba’s condition started
improving, but he says his
memory of the worst months
is just a blur.
“It took about 3 months to
come back where I could communicate,”
he said. “For me it
was like a dream, you know.”
He went into rehab on July
15, while remaining on a ventilator
and a feeding tube.
At the end of October he was
transferred to a nursing home
for physical therapy.
In January, he was fi -
nally taken off the ventilator
and feeding tube and was allowed
to return home the next
month.
Dr. Saba still constantly
has oxygen fed into his nose
and has suffered permanent
lung damage due to the virus,
pneumonia, and being intubated
for a long period of time,
and the physician took several
breaks to cough heavily during
a phone interview with
Brooklyn Paper.
Support from fellow
heroes
One of his colleagues, Dr.
Anjula Gandhi, launched an
Brookdale Hospital physician Dr.
Saba recovered for more than 10
months from COVID-19. Dr. Saba
Continued on page 22
YEAR OF COVID-19
Take Care to Protect Yourself and Others
From COVID-19
Safely separate at a Free, Private Hotel Room.
If you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 or were in contact with someone who tested positive, you can qualify for a hotel room for up to 10 days to safely separate and protect others.
Take Care Hotels are safe, comfortable and convenient. All services are free. Children are welcome.
!
treatment or preventive healthcare services related to COVID-19 will NOT be considered under the public charge rule.
The following services are provided FREE at a Take Care Hotel:
+ Round-trip transportation to and from the hotel and any necessary medical appointments
+ Breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily*
+ Private rooms and bathrooms
+ Interpreter services
+ Onsite COVID-19 testing
+ Medication delivery
+ Free Wi-Fi and Cable TV
+ Onsite health care services provided by skilled doctors and nurses
+ Unlimited local phone calls to stay connected with family and friends
+ Telepsychiatry to access expert mental health providers
Book your room today.
Call 212-COVID-19 (212-268-4319)
or visit testandtrace.nyc
*Meals will be tailored to dietary needs scan here