KOLKATA: Aloke Kumar Sarker,
OC Beniapukur, who had undergone treatment at two private hospitals off EM Bypass after being diagnosed with Covid-19 for more than a month before spending another month in complete rest at home, finally rejoined
duty on Monday.
Sarker was on
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) ventilation for close to two-and-a-half weeks and had returned home on September 29. Some of his close friends — officers of the force — were in attendance to see him resume charge. On his part, Sarker thanked his colleagues and his team of doctors for what he called was a “second life”. Earlier, several ACPs and OCs visited the hospital on the day he was released. A felicitation on behalf of the top brass was also organized for the doctors who treated him. Senior officers at Lalbazar said Sarker’s recovery and his willingness to get back to work will serve as an inspiration for the force.
Sarker, one of the most popular officers in the force from the 1996 batch, was admitted on August 25 at a private hospital off Bypass. When his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to another private hospital off EM Bypass on the evening of August 29. He was put on ECMO ventilation a few hours later and kept in it for 20 days. For the next seven days, Sarker was kept in normal ventilation. Within three days of getting off ventilation, he began his strict rehab process from home.
Over 10,000 cops have been infected in the state. Close to 2,900 have recovered too, with about 120-150-odd active cases in past two weeks. Kolkata Police commissioner Anuj Sharma and four other senior IPS officers have so far recovered from
Covid.