Wednesday, 19 May 2021 | PNS | New Delhi
I am having Covid pneumonia which is progressive. But even then remember Raj Kapoor’s words: the show must go on… picture abhi baaki hai’.”
This was the message that Padma Shri Dr KK Aggarwal, an eminent cardiologist and former national president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), gave out in his last video exhorting his medical fraternity to continue taking the Covid-19 menace head on before he himself lost the fight against the pathogen on Tuesday.
The Facebook video, one of the many he had been dishing out to educate the masses about fighting the lethal disease and the latest concerns related to “black fungus”, has since gone viral reflecting the strong-willed 62-year-old doctor’s resolve to serve the nation despite his own illness.
No wonder, his fraternity, politicians, journalists and all those whose lives he touched through his medical expertise and philanthropic activities were shell-shocked by his death at AIIMS, Delhi.
Having taken both the doses of vaccine and being a doctor himself, everybody thought Dr Aggarwal, who was popular in his circle for his affable nature and expertise in his subject, would sail through the Covid wave. However, his condition deteriorated with each passing day and he was put on ventilator support for the past one week.
Dr. Aggarwal’s family mourned his death by issuing a statement noting that ever since he became a doctor, he dedicated his life to the welfare of the public and raising health awareness. “Even during the pandemic, he made constant efforts to educate the masses and was able to reach out to over 100 million people through numerous videos and educational programmes and saved countless lives,” the statement said.
It added that Dr Aggarwal “wanted his life to be celebrated and not mourned”. He is survived by his wife and two children.
Renowned as the pioneer of streptokinase therapy for heart attacks in India, Dr Aggarwal had introduced the Colour Doppler Echocardiography technology in India.
Dr Aggarwal received the Dr BC Roy Award in 2005 and Padma Shri in 2010. He was the head of the Heart Care Foundation of India and organized the famous “Health Mela” every year in the national Capital. He was also a writer, anchor, orator, columnist and health communicator.
Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State and a diabetologist himself, mourned the loss of his “friend and senior colleague” with whom he had an association of nearly three decades.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Rajasthan counterpart Ashok Gehlot also expressed condolences for the “great human being” even as a spate of condolences messages also flooded the social media.
