‘He fought on till the last minute in true Punjabi spirit’: Chandigarh cop who survived kidney failure in 2016 succumbs to Covid

DOCTORS HAD in September 2016 assured Sukhvantjit Kaur that her husband, Jasbir Singh, an assistant sub-inspector of police deputed in the Motor Transport Office (MTO) section of Chandigarh Police, was back to being healthy.

The kidney that she had donated for her husband would make Jasbir live out the rest of his life without any major worries. Or so she thought.

The deadly second wave had other plans for the family. The last time Sukhvantjit spoke to her husband was on May 20 on a phone. Jasbir, 50, had then assured his wife that he will return soon.

ASI Jasbir Singh, was posted as a frontline worker, during the Covid second wave crisis and managed to contract the disease. Jasbir managed to tame the virus the first time and was discharged from the hospital on May 11.

But in six days he developed Covid-related complications and was rushed back to PGI, only to never return home again. Jasbir succumbed to the virus on May 22.

A heartbroken Sukhvantjit says, “Both the kidneys of my husband were damaged in 2016. Doctors advised us to opt for regular dialysis or get a transplant. I did not want to see my husband suffer by undergoing dialysis every time. So, I agreed to donate one of my kidneys to him. The transplant was successful. Doctors assured me that he would now live a long, healthy life. We followed all the precautions during the first wave of Covid-19. But the second wave ruined us. He got admitted to PGI after developing Covid-19 related complications on May 1. He was discharged on May 11, only to be readmitted again on May 17. He breathed his last on May 22.”

Kaur said, “I have one regret, that neither my children nor I could interact with him as much as we would have liked in his final days. One of my sons is in Canada on a student visa and the other is pursuing his class 10+2 here. Though the younger son got a chance to communicate with his father on a video call, the eldest son could not do so.”

“The hospital staff made me talk to my father on video call. He fought on till the last minute in the Punjabi spirit. I remember him telling me chinta na kaar puttar, chatti thek ho kaar avanga (Don’t worry son. I will get well and come back home shortly). But he never came back,” said Narbir Singh, Jasbir’s youngest son, fighting back tears.

Jasbir Singh was the third UT cop, to have succumbed to Covid-19. Although he was not assigned to the task of routine policing, he was required to communicate with fellow officers stationed throughout Chandigarh as part of his job while being posted in the MTO section.

Jasbir Singh’s superior officer, Inspector Dalbir Singh Bhinder, said, “ASI Jasbir Singh was a jolly man. He was famous among the staff in police lines, sector 26, for his dedication and hard work. His loss has left a void.”