When I tested positive...

Prabhjot Singh

Prabhjot Singh

Though medical tests have now become a routine, the mention of a test amid the coronavirus pandemic can send shivers down your spine. A test for the killer virus can be scarier than tests for any other deadly disease.

I still cannot forget the day when, 34 years ago, I went for a blood test in London. In those days, the suggestion or recommendation for a blood test to diagnose a minor ailment was taken seriously.

On the third day of our arrival in London, I felt feverish while my friend Jaspal Bhatti was a bundle of energy and excitement. He wanted to make the most of his first trip overseas. Initially, I too shared his optimism by believing that the bouts of high fever and trembling were because of a change of climate, but not when our host, a doctor, insisted that I should get my blood tested.

Self-adoration of being hale and hearty did not cut ice with our hostess, who insisted on taking my blood sample. She wanted to carry it to her hospital in Middlesex for analysis. I had no choice but to relent and give my sample.

Next evening, when we returned home from our routine outing, Dr Sahiba was waiting for us. She was excited as she had something special to share with us. ‘You made my day,’ she announced with a big smile on her face. ‘I was the cynosure of all eyes in the hospital. Everyone was asking for me. You know why? Your blood sample tested positive for malaria! It was exciting as none in my hospital, one of the biggest in central London, had seen a malaria slide. Everyone wanted to see it.’

There were no mosquitoes around. ‘You brought it from India,’ she said, explaining that the incubation period for malaria germs was 10-14 days. ‘You must have been bitten by mosquitoes in India before you left for London.’

She gave me malaria pills, probably chloroquine. My diagnosis left me wondering. How come malaria, one of the biggest killers in developing countries, was a ‘rarity’ in England?

Thirty-four years later, I have got the answer. Medically advanced nations like the UK, Italy, France, Germany and the US are now exporting dreaded diseases like the coronavirus.

A vast majority of the people who tested positive for the virus in Punjab and Chandigarh had brought it from Europe in general, and England, Italy and Germany in particular.

What had excited my host in England at that time is probably doing the same to Indian doctors, who examine coronavirus suspects for bringing home a disease from overseas.