Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Woman in MIQ heartbreak as grandfather has been given just days to live

Fayzah Mutlib said her grandfather Abdul is an "incredible" man who has always been there for her. Photo / Supplied

Fayzah Mutlib's grandfather has been given just a few days to live, but she is sitting in managed isolation and unable to be by his side.

The 27-year-old, who is an ICU doctor in Melbourne, found out her grandfather, Abdul, was ill three weeks ago.

"Straight away I was trying to organise to come back to New Zealand to spend time with him or at least help him get better."

After many failed attempts Mutlib was granted an emergency MIQ spot and flew into Auckland on Sunday but she still can't be by his side at Auckland City Hospital where doctors say he only has a few days to live.

"He has been like my father, supporting me through school, taking me to all my extra circular actives and there at all my important events," she said.

Fayzah Mutlib who is now 27, lived with her grandfather right up until she was 20. Photo / Supplied

"All I want to do is hold his hand and just be there for him. He keeps calling out my name and I just can't be there," she said.

"I think he is waiting for me so he can die peacefully."

Before arriving to New Zealand Mutlib applied for an exemption to visited her grandfather but her application was rejected as she wasn't in MIQ yet.

Once she arrived at Auckland's Grand Mercure to complete her MIQ stay, Mutlib applied for an exemption again but was once again rejected. She was told she must supply a letter which explains her grandfather health status.

Mutlib's family spent Monday trying to find someone to write her a letter which proved difficult being a public holiday.

A letter was written by a nurse explaining that her grandfather only had 24 to 48 hours left to live. For a third time Mutlib applied for exemption and received a rejection on Tuesday morning.

"Everyone that my parents have spoken to at Auckland hospital have been so supportive of me coming to visit," she said.

As a frontline worker, Mutlib has written exemption letters for family members to visit dying loved ones in Melbourne but doesn't understand why she can't be there for her own family.

"I want to be there for other people's families and stuff but the Government isn't allowing me to be there for my own."

Since she's been in isolation, her grandfather's condition has deteriorated.

"It would have been nice if I could've gone in on Sunday or Monday because he was actually talking. He would have had a conversation with me. Right now he's just groaning and barely opening his eyes," she said.

Due tothe current Covid-19 situation, Fayzah Mutlib's family is taking turns visiting their loved one, one at a time. Photo / Supplied

Mutlib's grandparents are meant to be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary early next week. This has taken a toll on her grandmother.

"I am hoping my grandpa makes it to then but as much as I want to hope seeing people in this position and seeing what my grandfather looks like now."

As a doctor, Mutlib and her family's original plan was to take her grandfather home and isolate together where they could spend his last days together.

"We'd be happy to take him home and all of us isolate at home for 14 days but the Government isn't even allowing that."

Mutlib knows her grandfather does not have much time left.

When Fayzah Mutlib heard her grandfather was ill, she immediately started organising a MIQ spot. Photo / Supplied

"I have a very good judge of how long he has left and it's not long. I am not going to make it if I have to spent these 14 days in isolation."

In Muslim culture a person is buried within 24 hours, exceptions can be made but person must be blessed and prayed over by an imam or priest. As they are a Muslim family, Mutlib may only have hours notice before her grandfather is buried.

According the MIQ website exemptions for "exceptional reasons are approved only in rare circumstances".

Exemptions to attend a funeral or tangihanga where there may be multiple people gathered are unlikely to be approved.

"I find it very heartless to be honest, I understand risk and the current rules in New Zealand but I can't understand why," she said.