Mumbai: Coronavirus fells doctor, derails son’s medicine dreams

Dr Zabird Usmani

As it kept felling countless citizens, the Coronavirus also turned the world upside down for Mankhurd's Usmani family last year after they lost Dr Zabird Hussain Usmani, 51, their sole breadwinner and a father of three, to the pandemic.

The family's struggle is a bit more heart-wrenching considering that Dr Usmani was working with an emergency ambulance service for COVID patients. His death has snuffed out his 17-year-old son Aadil's dream at least for now.

Aadil, a Class XII student, was always keen on pursuing his father's profession. The teen says taking up a job to support his mother and two younger siblings is his priority for now even though they have received compensation from the government.

"My mother is against me leaving studies altogether as my father would have wanted all of us to study well. But to ensure smooth survival, I am planning to look for a part-time job which will allow me to do both," said Aadil, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya.

Dr Usmani practised Unani medicine, but wanted Aadil to get a higher degree than him. "I was hoping to aim for MBBS but now I have shifted my focus to paramedicine," said the teenager, adding a degree in medicine is an expensive affair.

All this maturity started seeping in this young lad after Dr Usmani's death on May 27, 2020. "He started feeling unwell around May 20. He treated himself initially but felt breathless in a day or so. After much effort, we managed to get him admitted to Sion hospital. He showed signs of improvement in the first two days but soon after his health started deteriorating and it was all over in the next five days," said Aadil.

The family is still pained at the thought that Dr Usmani had no comorbidity and contracted the infection on the job.

Education badly hit

While Aadil is preparing for his board exams, the outbreak and his father's demise last year never gave him a chance to join a coaching institute for the board papers or any competitive entrance test. His younger sister Salia, 11, is also a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya and youngest Sahil, 9, studies in a Chembur school.

In their struggle to get what's due while coping with the irreparable loss, the family has built a shell around it. Aadil continues to answer his father's phone to ensure there are no problems over formalities, if at all there are any. He tries to form a protective wall when it comes to exposing Salia and Sahil from having to recall the painful memories.

The family continues to live in the same house in the memory of a loving husband and father as the siblings aspire to make a life their father would have been proud of.