Days after posting SOS message on Twitter, Jamia professor succumbs to COVID-19

New Delhi: Days after sharing a post on Twitter seeking help to find herself an ICU bed in a hospital, Dr Nabila Sadiq, Assistant Professor at Jamia Millia Islamia university succumbed to COVID-19 at a Faridabad hospital on Monday (May 17) night.

The 38-year-old was a PhD scholar from JNU who continued to guide her students with their thesis until April 20.

“At this rate no one will stay alive in Delhi at least,” read one of her last tweets.

One of her students, Waqar, said they called every hospital in Delhi-NCR to get an oxygen bed.

“Her friends helped us get a bed at Fortis Hospital in Faridabad. However, her oxygen levels dropped to 32%. After a CT scan, the doctor said her lungs were damaged. I received hundreds of calls every day from her colleagues, relatives and friends asking about her health. We didn’t know what to do,” Waqar was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

Incidentally, just ten days before her death, her mother Nuzhat (76) had also died of COVID-related complications.

Nabila wasn’t aware of her mother’s death, and died worrying about her parents, said the Indian Express report.

Her father, Sadique (80) was also hospitalised for a while due to the infection but was later discharged. He is currently in home isolation.

Nabila’s doctors said she wasn’t responding to the treatment and died around 11 pm on Monday.

Her last rites were performed by her students and friends a day later at , where her mother was buried just a few days ago.