Former Indian boxing star and Asian gold medallist Dingko Singh who is battling a relapse of liver cancer, is unable to make the trip to New Delhi for radiation with all air travel standing cancelled due to lockdown.
The doctors had asked Dingko to undergo radiation but it can only be done in Delhi. However, owing to the nationwide lockdown until May 3, he is unable to travel.
The health condition of Dingko, who is currently at his home town in Imphal, is steadily deteriorating, with intermittent fever since early last month.
“We are at your wit’s end. It’s an extremely worrying time. He has constant high fever and is weakening each day. He has even lost his calm and humour,” wife Babai Devi was quoted as saying by The Times of India newspaper on April 20.
With emergency travel to Delhi not advisable at the moment, Dingko has been asked by his doctors at Delhi’s Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) to instead undergo a round of chemotherapy locally. The measure is extraordinary given that proper facilities for radiation are not available in Imphal. The doctors plan on deciding the future course of action after assessing the results.
The report further said that Dingko had contracted jaundice earlier this year and was admitted to the ILBS on January 28, where the doctors, based on the symptoms, suspected a strong relapse of cholangiocarcinoma, a form of liver cancer that originates in the bile ducts. Radiation was suggested since he had already undergone an entire cycle of chemotherapy three years ago, but it had to be put off due to a low blood count.
Now the choice before him is either to hire an ambulance to Guwahati, a nearly 500-km journey which usually takes around 15 hours, or even Kolkata, which is 1,500-km by road, for which he would require a pass by the local DM.
