Flying Sikh Milkha Singh better, but wife's health plummets

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 4

Legendary athlete Milkha Singh is doing better but the condition of his wife is on the decline, doctors treating them said in two different statements on Friday.  

The couple, who tested positive for Covid-19 in the last week of May, are currently being treated at two different hospitals in the Tricity—the 91-year-old Milkha Singh at Chandigarh’s Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research and his 82-year-old wife, a former captain of Indian women's volleyball team, at Fortis Hospital in Mohali. 

A statement from PGI, where Milkha Singh is admitted to an Intensive Care Unit, said he was doing better than before. 

“Flying Sikh Milka Singh Ji, being unwell due to Covid-19 was admitted in ICU of NHE Block of PGIMER yesterday i.e 3rd June 2021. On the basis of all the medical parameters today, his condition has been observed better and more stable than yesterday. He is closely being monitored by a team of three doctors at PGIMER,” an official spokesperson said in a statement.

A statement from Fortis Hospital for his wife bore grimmer news: the hospital said in a statement that the health of Nirmal Milkha Singh declined as the disease progressed, leading them to increase her dosage of medical oxygen.

"She is presently on HFNC and NIV intermittently," the statement said.  

The couple tested positive for Covid-19 in the last week of May and were admitted to Fortis hospital, Mohali. Milkha Singh was released from the hospital on May 31, but his wife had then been moved to the hospital’s ICU after her oxygen levels dipped.

Milkha Singh meanwhile was admitted to PGI after his blood oxygen level plummeted.