Together we win: Sikh American doctor returns to Punjab to help fight COVID

Tragic. Unprecedented. How long? These are the usual reactions to news around us in this time of COVID-19 pandemic but some stories from some corners of the world do give us a reason to smile and believe in humanity.

Dr Harmandeep Singh Boparai, a New York-based specialist in anaesthesiology and critical care, returned to his hometown in Punjab’s Amritsar on April 1 to fight the pandemic. No, it’s not an April Fool’s prank, he did return during the raging pandemic to give a helping hand to his countrymen.

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Harmandeep, 34, who was a frontline warrior in New York City at the peak of the pandemic there, has since been training doctors and nurses on COVID protocols. After completing MBBS from Punjab, Harmandeep had gone to the US in 2011.

Harmandeep, according to Hindustan Times, helped establish a capacity for intensive care at Dukh Niwaran Hospital, a hospital formerly run by his father as a charitable unit. He will next go to Mumbai to work at a 1,000-bed hospital for Doctors Without Borders. 

The doctor, who plans to stay in India till the pandemic situation normalises, says: “We must continue to support doctors and give them our wishes and solidarity.”  

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“This is not an easy job,” he adds, according to the Global Indian LinkedIn post. 

Yes, it sure is not easy to come back to the country in the midst of a massive COVID surge.

On Tuesday, India confirmed nearly 390,000 new cases, including 3,876 more deaths. Overall, India has had the second-highest number of confirmed cases after the U.S. with nearly 23 million and over 240,000 deaths.