COVID Warrior: 34-Year-Old Doctor Returns From US To Help India In Fight Against COVID-19
After working as a frontline worker in New York, Dr Harmandeep Singh Boparai returned to his hometown, Amritsar to help with the growing number of COVID-19 cases. Dr Boparai began by imparting training to the nurses and doctors regarding the COVID protocol. The 34-year-old doctor, who is a specialist in anaesthesiology and critical care, is currently working with Doctors Without Borders at a 1000-bed hospital in Mumbai
At the Townhall, Dr Boparai told the Banega Swasth India Campaign Ambassador, Amitabh Bachchan, that we have been fighting this war, against an invisible enemy for more than a year now and it's a global war. "Whether the front is New York or back here at home in Amritsar or Mumbai, it's the same fight," he said.
Dr Boparai also said that with all his experience of fighting the pandemic in New York, he wanted to also help his own country. "If I weren't able to bring my experience back home to India, to my people at a time of crisis, it wouldn't have been worth it so it was really a no-brainer to come back since things got so bad here during the second wave."
Further discussing the difference between his COVDI duty in New York and in Mumbai, Dr Boparai said that the actual day-to-day is vastly different. He said, "We know the healthcare infrastructure is very different in New York versus in many parts of our country but there are so many similarities. One of the things you quickly learn is that we all here share the same humanity and when you look in someone's eyes especially your patients or your colleagues and see them at their most vulnerable then you get inspired to see them as you and you transcend the fear and that's one of the great lessons that we have learned across and it is one of the great honors of my life to work with people who in some cases literally given their lives to help others and I don't think there is any greater service than that."
