Jalandhar: Shunning away opulent lifestyle and world-class health facilities in the United States, a Punjab origin doctor working as a frontline worker in New York has returned to his roots to serve the motherhood in this critical time when the country is grappling with deadly coronavirus.
This 34-year-old Indian-American Sikh Dr Harmandeep Singh Boparai, a specialist in anesthesiology and critical care was working as a frontline worker in the US prior to travelling to India. He has been living in the US for the past 10 years and currently treating Covid patients in his home town Amritsar.
Dr Singh did his MBBS in Amritsar Government Medical College before moving to New York in 2011. Later, he has done his Masters in Journalism from Columbia University in the City of New York.
On his return to Punjab, during the second wave in April this year, he started giving training to doctors and nurses at many hospitals including Dukh Niwaran Hospital in Amritsar. He has also extended his services at a 1,000-bed hospital in Mumbai, where he was roped in by Doctors without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organisation.
“At time of my return, the cases were not that high and I started talking to the doctors here on how we can build capacity in case of cases surge, apart from strengthening the infrastructure to handle any kind of crisis. Soon enough, we saw a catastrophic rises in the cases in India,” he said.
He is also imparting training to many doctors and nurses in the holy city and at other places at par with the modalities being used in New York hospitals.
Talking about his motivation to return to India, he said his father, RPS Boparai, is an orthopaedic specialist, while his mother, late Gian Kaur, was a gynaecologist and they always committed to providing selfless service to the sick and saving lives unconditionally throughout their lives. While his father offered charitable services at Dukh Niwaran Hospital mother initiated him into ‘sewa’ (volunteer service) at his young age, he said.
Harman says he would continue extending his help to all those in need until the situation becomes normal in India. “Considering the circumstances of imminent Covid-19 third wave, I will be staying here till this year to extend his services and treat the people,” he said answering on his return to the US.
Sharing his views on India’s Covid situation, he said, “Though, we do not have similar advanced facilities like the US and other advanced countries but our people have a strong will-power to combat any crisis and it is helping us. Moreover, Doctors in the health department, especially in Punjab, have been working so hard to save lives even this is not an easy job at this time.”