Covid warrior from Bengaluru who worked to save lives, succumbs to meningitis

BENGALURU: “Rare and Real” is what Aamir Khan’s bio on Instagram says — a young man who volunteered to help many patients in different ways during the second wave of Covid-19. Unfortunately, his efforts were shortlived as he succumbed to meningitis on Wednesday. Khan (29), an entrepreneur, decided to help patients who were struggling for beds and had a tough time getting oxygen cylinders for treatment when the cases were rising in the city.

Back then, he posted on his social media account how difficult it was to get beds, while he and his team would get over 3,000 requests a day for oxygen beds, ICU beds or oxygen cylinders. Khan managed to help many such patients and would even help in booking ambulances. He also helped poor people in slum areas by distributing ration kits. Even during the first wave , he was involved in spreading awareness on Covid safety norms and carried out distribution of face masks.

Khan developed fever on May 21 and was put on medication. He complained of headache and had a seizure after which he was rushed to Baptist Hospital on May 23 where he was diagnosed with meningitis — inflammation of the brain. He breathed his last on Wednesday after his parents took the heart-wrenching call to take him off the ventilator.

With moist eyes, the father Yaqoob Khan said, “It is hard to believe that we lost him. But my son helped many people, which has made me proud. He had left us with people having good memories of him.”Dr Indira Menon, Head Of Critical Care at Baptist Hospital, said, “He came with a fever, headache and he had suffered a stroke. We conducted a Covid test and he was negative. He was unconscious and we put him on a ventilator. A CT scan was done, which was normal. 

Since he had fever, we did a lumbar puncture to analyse the cerebrospinal fluid around the brain, which showed meningitis. We were giving him medication, but he was not responding. We then carried out an MRI , which showed swelling in the lower part of the brain. The next option was surgery, but his condition was already so bad that surgery couldn’t help. He was a young man contributing to society and was very active. It was very unfortunate.”

News of Khan’s death was all over social media, and many even attended his funeral following Covid-19 protocols. “I met Aamir during the pandemic. He wanted to save lives. From rushing to hospitals at midnight to getting medicines delivered to patients, he did it all,” said Shifa Kulsum, an influencer.Syed Ummer Hashim, who has been Khan’s friend for 12 years, said, “I still can’t believe he’s not here with us. He has helped many during the pandemic. He always said that he wanted to save lives, but we didn’t know we would lose him. It’s heartbreaking.”