Fear fails to stop this doctor from performing duty amid pandemic

Ravi Dhaliwal

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Tribune News Service

Kalanaur (Gurdaspur), May 8

In the backwaters of this border district, Dr Lakhwinder Singh Athwal, Senior Medical Officer (SMO), Kalanaur, has become a sort of a cult figure. His fame spread when he home quarantined 235 people, who had returned from foreign countries. Later, he also isolated 58 pilgrims who returned from Nanded in a private school where he had established a 100-bed facility.

“It is an old Persian saying. Former US President Abraham Lincoln, something of an aphorist himself, was a fan of this line because it is true and appropriate in all times and situations. We have to nail the virus at all costs. It will be a massive achievement for humanity if we do so. The starting point of all achievement is desire. If you have the desire, half the battle is won. The successful warrior is nobody but an average man but with laser-like focus and desire,” he added.

Dr Athwal said when he was assigned the task of identifying the foreign returnees, he initially thought it would be an insurmountable task. He then formed a 12-member team. Its members went door to door and managed to convince the people to stay at home. “I salute my team members because they relegated fear to the sidelines. Some persons resisted staying at home propounding the logic that they had come for just a few days and wanted to complete important errands. Those who are resisting quarantine are not advocating for ‘live free or die’, they are advocating ‘I must have my freedom even if it means harming others’. Remember, if your freedom comes at the cost of other people’s lives, then that is not freedom. It is the purest form of savagery,” he said.

The doctor himself used to drive on dusty, potholed roads to villages, particularly near the border, to check whether the people were obeying the norms. Even in the midst of the pandemic and its accompanying fears, the SMO has not let work at his Community Health Centre (CHC) suffer.

“The OPD is catering to 500 patients daily. Surgeries are being carried out and so are caesareans. Covid-19 has failed to act as a damper,” he said.

He candidly admits that trepidation and anxiety are all pervasive as new cases surface here, there and everywhere with monotonous regularity.

“Arrogant humanity always thought that among all living beings, only humans can write a sensational story in the world! But here is a virus that has proved the opposite of this. Let us fight it and bring life back on the track,” he said.