Pankajkumar Chaudhary — a 40-year-old urologist from Mumbai who worked at Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation’s fever clinic in the Indian state of Maharashtra and at the OPD of his own hospital — lost his battle against Covid in the morning of July 19, 2020.
Chaudhary was part of Indian Medical Association’s Dombivli team which is providing free services at the civic body’s fever clinic. The doctor was on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) support-cardiac and respiratory support- since July 6, reported Times of India.
A known urologist in the twin cities, Dr Chaudhary managed his own hospital in Dombivli. He is survived by his wife, Purva, also a doctor and a 21-month-old son.
“Despite the virus scare, my husband attended the fever clinic and the OPD,” said Dr Purva. She said he wore PPE kits while treating patients and took all other preventive measures too, but started feeling unwell last month. He quarantined himself at their second home situated above the hospital. When his condition didn’t improve, he got admitted to Noble Hospital in Dombivli where he tested Covid-positive on June 23. He was shifted to Wockhardt in Mumbai, but when his lung condition deteriorated, doctors suggested moving him to Riddhi Vinayak Hospital in Nalasopara as it had an ECMO machine.
Chaudhary’s death on July 19, 2020, has come as a shock to the fraternity.