Punjab man, his mother say faith kept them strong during recovery

SBS NAGAR: Harpal Singh’s worst fears came true when his mother, Pritam Kaur, 72, tested positive for Covid-19 four days after he was diagnosed with the disease on March 22. He was more worried about his mother since she is diabetic and more vulnerable. But luckily for them, the two were admitted to the same isolation ward at Civil Hospital in Punjab’s Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar. This helped them at least to keep each other’s morale high.

Harpal Singh, 48, has since recovered but he continues to stay back at the hospital to look after his mother, who doctors say is stable and likely to be discharged after she is retested this week. He said it is their faith that helped them stay strong. They would listen to religious hymns on their phones and talk to their family over video calls.

“Initially, I was worried because I had heard that people suffering from chronic diseases [like diabetes] and those aged may not survive [if infected by coronavirus],” Singh said.

Harpal Singh, whose Pathlawa village was on March 22 declared Punjab’s first Covid-19 containment zone, was one of the 27 people infected by super-spreader preacher Baldev Singh. The preacher died on March 18 and tested positive a day later. Baldev Singh, 70, returned from Germany via Italy on March 7. He visited several places before his death that triggered a scramble for identifying all the people he came in contact with. At least 14

› Initially, I was worried because I heard that people suffering from chronic diseases [like diabetes] and those aged may not survive... HARPAL SINGH

members of his family were infected along with four in Jalandhar and five in Hoshiarpur.

In Pathlawa, 19 people contracted the disease and 14 in nearby villages of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, which were sealed within days. Harpal Singh is among the 13 people from his village to have been recovered. At least 10 of them have been discharged. As of Monday, Punjab had 176 Covid-19 cases. The state has reported 12 deaths related to the pandemic while 23 patients have recovered.

Harpal Singh said he is grateful to the doctors and medical staff at the civil hospital for providing them moral support and counselling as well as the best possible treatment.

Dr Harwinder Singh, the Civil Hospital’s senior medical officer, said Harpal has been asked to remain under home quarantine for two more weeks after his discharge. “We focused on their counselling so that patients should be mentally strong.”