New Delhi: Forty-five-year-old assistant professor at a Delhi University (DU) college, Chetan Jassal died of COVID-19 on Monday, inside 10 days of her husband’s death due to the deadly virus infection.
An assistant professor in the commerce department of Mata Sundri College for Women, Chetan Jassal and her husband Pawan Kumar Jassal were brought to Chandigarh by their relatives on April 25 after reportedly unable to get a hospital bed in Delhi.
However, despite the efforts, her husband passed away on May 8, Chetan Jassal’s relatives told Hindustan Times.
According to Chetan’s colleagues and friends, she was unaware of her husband’s death. “She called me on April 24 asking for some leads for an oxygen cylinder for her husband. He was having difficulty breathing and they were trying to find a hospital bed. They were both infected at the time. After failing to get a bed here, she took her husband to Chandigarh with the help of her relatives. In that time, her condition got worse, and she was hospitalised as well. She was on ventilator support since April 30. She did not know about her husband’s death,” Chetan Jassal’s colleague and close friend, Veenakshi Sharma was quoted as saying by HT.
“She was a very dear friend. I can’t believe a person as lively as her has gone so early,” she broke down.
Mata Sundri College for Women Principal, Harpreet Kaur said Jassal submitted her documents to the college for a pending promotion, a few days before she left for Chandigarh.
“She would have been promoted to the post of associate professor soon. It’s so shocking for us to believe she is not among us any longer. She was a very hardworking and responsible colleague. We will never forget her ever-smiling face and lovable personality,” Kaur told the national daily.
Kaur said the two are survived by sons — a 20-year-old studying psychology in DU, and a 14-year-old in Class X.
“At the college’s level, we are trying to help the family. The chairperson of the college’s governing body has promised he will sponsor their sons’ education,” the principal said.
Jassal’s brother Dr Maheshwar, who last met her in September, was in complete shock. “We tried our best to find beds for them in Delhi, but to no avail. We had to call them here [to Chandigarh] then. It’s a difficult time for the family,” the brother said.
According to the DU Teachers Association (DUTA), over 35 faculty members from various colleges affiliated with the university have died of COVID-19 since March.
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