US-based Rohtak doctor beats COVID-19 to feature in Hollywood flick

Sunit Dhawan
Tribune News Service
Rohtak, June 25

Nephrologist Dr Pooja Bhatia Malhotra, who hails from Rohtak, had contracted the deadly disease coronavirus while treating her patients. The doctor, who is currently in the USA, resumed work after defeating the deadly disease.

She will feature in a Hollywood documentary film on COVID-19 warriors of Indian origin.

Dr Pooja is among the five Indian doctors working on the frontline during the COVID-19 in the USA which has been included in a feature-length documentary movie, "A Pandemic: Away from the Motherland".

The documentary is made by Sweta Rai, an Indian filmmaker in Hollywood.

The movie showcases the remarkable contribution of Meerut-origin Dr Ankit Bharat, who is well-known for robotic lung surgeries and recently, performed pioneering double-lung transplant surgery on a COVID-19 patient.

The other COVID warriors of Indian origin based in the USA, who feature in the film, include Dr Uma Madhusudana (Internal Medicine), Dr Shreedhar Kulkarni (Internal Medicine) and Dr Shantanu Singh (Critical Care and Pulmonary Diseases).

As the film was shot during the lockdown, the filmmaker guided the doctors through a mobile app for shooting professional videos, like Skype, Zoom and WhatsApp video-calls.

“Reducing the pain and suffering of patients is a satisfying experience in itself. I am happy that the efforts of the medical fraternity have been acknowledged and appreciated universally in the COVID era,” said Dr Pooja, daughter of Rohtak-based senior advocate Amarnath Bhatia.

Dr Pooja is married to Sameer Malhotra, a software engineer based in the USA.

Dr Pooja’s brother Vishal Bhatia points out that after having tested positive for COVID, his sister stayed at home in strict isolation for more than two weeks and got treated.

“After defeating the disease, she resumed her clinical work and also gave her own blood-plasma for the treatment of COVID patients,” said the proud brother.

It was a big challenge: Filmmaker Sweta Rai

Talking to The Tribune on the phone, filmmaker Sweta Rai said it was a big challenge to shoot the film amidst the pandemic and lockdown and she was happy that they had made it.

“The underlying idea behind making the movie was to underline the contribution of Indian-origin doctors who are working far away from their country. The film focuses on the personal lives of the doctors and their family members in the Covid era,” stated Rai.

The Hollywood filmmaker revealed that she got the idea to include the Rohtak-origin woman doctor from her mother, who lives in India and had read a news report in The Tribune about Dr Pooja’s dedication towards the treatment of patients after recovering from Covid herself.

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