Lismore local Deep Khuller flew to India to see his family 10 days ago – and once he arrived in Dehli, he found out he had contracted the Covid virus.

Deep said he is “fortunate” to have gotten Covid in India - and not Australia.

His experience of the medical system in India has made him realize how Australia is “far behind” India when it comes to managing the treatment of Covid in the population.

Differences

Despite India having a much larger population, Deep said PCR and RAT tests are cheap ($5 each) and readily available.

He said home-care medical system operates smoothly and speedily, with follow up prescriptions sent to you at home by a doctor.

Deep also said Covid test results in India give much more detail about the level of severity and contagiousness of the Covid positive person.

‘Third world’

It’s information he said he would never have known about if he had been tested in Australia.

“If your lexicon still has the outdated ‘third world’, please add Australia to it as all the other countries that used to be described by that racist phrase have all moved on,” Deep said.

Update from Dehli

“While I knew, Dehli was going to be risky, it's unfortunate that I got Covid only a few days after being here,” he said.

“It’s possible I got it from going to a local hospital to consult doctors on dad's health - it's the only place I have been other than staying at home.”

Now isolating at home, Deep said his only worry is his old parents, so he is being very careful.

The process

“When I arrived, I had a temperature check and no symptoms. I was sure I wasn’t infected because I had a PCR test 72 hours before flying,” he said. 

“My sister had one symptom and then got a positive Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), followed by a negative PCR test. My other sister had a negative RAT, but a positive PCR test.”

Quick home PCR test

 “When I wanted to find a PCR test in Dehli, I looked online for a local testing lab and contacted them.

“Within 30 minutes, a person arrived at my home, swabbed me – and I had the results sent to me online within 10 hours.”

RAT versus PCR

While RATs are not as conclusive as a PCR test Covid, Deep said they detect Covid before you get it.

“And that’s a good thing,” he said.

“In India, the PCR test report shows you the severity of Covid you have. Different numbers mean more or less infectious - the higher the number, the lower the severity.

“If it’s below 8, it’s very infectious, 18 is mild. Mine was 16.

“My sister who tested negative had the number 24, but I was 16, so more infectious.

Unaware

“My friends in Australia I spoke to said they are not aware of that. It’s not reported like that in Australia.

“I’ve been reading a lot about it. There’s so much information we don’t know about in Australia unless you seek it.”

Symptoms

Deep said his symptoms were a scratchy throat, mild fatigue and a mild fever, with shivers in the night.

“I had a temperature of 100 temp for a few days and I’ve been told it takes about ten days till the virus leaves your body.

“I’ve already done five days of isolation, as the doctor recommended.

Doctor and after care

“The doctor gave me a free phone call and spoke to me for ten minutes about my symptoms and what medicines I can take – it included vitamin D and high dose 650mg paracetamol – not available in Australia.

“She sent through a prescription as a PDF file on my phone afterwards.

“The pharmacy then delivered the medicines to my home.

"Later, I had health authorities contact me saying I can join in with yoga classes online - and then again checking on how I am and if any other family members have been tested or are sick!.

Deep's prescription.

‘Amazing system’

“What an amazing system. It avoids the hospitals being overloaded - and there are Covid specialists in every hospital.

“It’s not the same in Australia.

“India has vaccinated close to a billion people. It produces vaccinations locally and is now driving the booster campaign.”

Australian testing debacle

Before Deep left to go to India, he was required to get Covid tests done. It’s a process he describes as a “debacle”.

“I had to have a PCR done 72 hours prior to travel and this is all done by private companies - due to the format required.

“In the Northern Rivers, the company 4Cyte was listed for our region. After paying $120, I got a list of places to go and in their 40+ testing sites, all were shut, including Lismore.

“The only place for Northern Rivers was South Tweed and it was open only 8am to 12pm.

“I was told I had to queue up in the drive in with others with no special access for paid tests.

“So I got up at 5am as soon as my 72 hour window started and drove to Tweed.

“I got there by 6.30am to be turned away, as even the drive in queue with hundreds of cars was full.

“I really started panicking. I parked nearby and walked up to the testing site.

“After talking to very helpful staff I found I would be allowed in, separate to the rest - and I could breathe again.

“The first car parked had got there at 3.30 am.

Anti vaxxers and white privilege

 “You never hear of white privileged anti-vaxx rhetoric here in India.

“The anti-vaxx stance really is a white privilege and we need to recognize when we come from privileged backgrounds – and how that attitude is contributing to it.

“I see that Western people from rich countries don’t understand their white privilege.

“While India is often looked at as a poor, third world country, it is Australia that is outdated – not India.

“But, India has its own problems – and there is a wide discrepancy between rich and poor.

Paying $5 for a RAT in India is still expensive for a poor labourer.

“But the processes and systems here are better than Australia.”

Read more about Deep: SUNDAY PROFILE: Local volunteer Deepak Khuller