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NEW DELHI – A Bangladeshi worker in Singapore who has recovered dramatically after a five-month battle with Covid-19 hopes to return home early next year to see his eight-month-old son.
Mr. Raju Sarker, who was case 42, has yet to arrest Safun, who was born in March when his father was in intensive care and on the brink of death.
Sarker has not been to Joydebpur’s home in the Gazipur district of Bangladesh since June last year. About a month ago, when Safun spoke ‘baba’ (the Bengali term for father) for the first time on the phone, he wept.
“I draw strength from him,” he said. “The boy has grown so much, I have to marry him now,” he added jokingly.
Sarker, 40, tested positive for the coronavirus in February and spent nearly five months in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, half of which were in an intensive care unit. He was discharged in June.
While the coronavirus left him with other health problems, such as declining blood platelet levels and poor heart function, Sarker said he feels much better now and is no longer taking medication.
He hopes to get a go-ahead from his doctors later this month to return to Bangladesh and see his family in February or March.
“If not, I will have to stay longer in Singapore,” he said. However, the signs are good. Currently at 59kg, she has regained much of the weight she lost when she became ill. From 64 kg, he plummeted to 40.
His doctors at the time said they were surprised by his recovery. His oxygen levels dropped so low that they thought he might not make it.
His long-term career plan is still uncertain. Sarker, who worked for an IT solutions company as a security coordinator at project sites, hopes his employer will offer him a less strenuous administrative role.
“My physical capacity is not the same … Before, I did not think about my condition. I would go anywhere for any job when asked. It did not even bother me if I had eaten or not. But now I have to be careful,” he said.
If this does not materialize, it is possible that he will return to Bangladesh forever. While his father-in-law has offered to let him work in his grocery store, Sarker hopes the Bangladeshi government will help him through a one-time grant or a government job that will allow him to support his family.
Currently housed in accommodation provided by his employer, he spends time chatting with his family or exploring Islamic spiritual content on his laptop. His near-death experience, he said, has made him more religious. “Knowing that Allah saved me, I am trying to walk on the right path,” Sarker said.
Meanwhile, back in Bangladesh, his wife, Sanjida Akhter, 18, awaits his return. “Such an unfortunate incident happened abroad. I don’t feel like letting him live abroad now,” he said by phone from the Gazipur district.
The conversation was marked by the repeated mooing of a calf at his parents’ home in Kalni, which is where he currently lives with his son. Even today, when she thinks back to the time her husband was ill, she said tears came to her eyes.
“Those three months still make me cry. It was a real struggle and I suffered a lot,” said Ms Akhter, adding that she would like him to return to Bangladesh and rebuild his career here.
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