Punjab SI Harjeet Singh finally discharged after hand reattachment surgery

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], April 30 : Punjab Police Sub-Inspector Harjeet Singh was on Thursday discharged from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here, 18 days after surgery to reattach his hand that was dismembered after he was attacked while trying to impose COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
"I am thankful to everyone across the country for their wishes and secondly to the Punjab Police and the medical staff here for what they have done for me. They have done so much for me that I might not be able to do the same for my family," said Harjeet Singh.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh shared the news of the Sub-Inspector's release and expressed gratitude to doctors and health care workers who attended to him.
"Happy to share that SI Harjeet Singh has been discharged from PGI, Chandigarh today. I thank Doctors, Nurses, Paramedics & all the staff of PGI for taking good care of him. Before getting discharged, he was handed over his son's appointment letter with Punjab Police," the chief minister tweeted.
DGP Dinkar Gupta, while speaking to ANI also thanked the medical staff involved in the treatment of Harjeet.
"The entire police force is thankful to them that they fixed his hand. We never thought in our wildest dreams that he could even recover in 18 days," DGP said.
He added: "What we did for him is our duty and I am even thankful to Waheguru for his safety."
Speaking on the recent initiative day long intitiatve #MainBhiHarjeet, where police personnel changed the names on their badges to that of Harjeet Singh, he said it was launched to give "a clear message" to people and make them aware of the attacks on police officers and health workers.
"I hope that incidents of such nature do not repeat themselves in the near future. Because of the campaign that people have become more aware of the attacks against health workers," the DGP said.
As a token of appreciation for his bravery, the DGP handed Singh with an appointment letter of Punjab Police for his son. "We are very proud of Harjeet Singh's family- he is truly an inspiration. I have given him an appointment letter from Punjab Police for his son. We need more families like his whose kids join the force and fight for the country," he said.
Jagat Ram, Director, PGIMER, hailed the sub-inspector as a source of inspiration. "A person who is as brave as him is only born once in a million times," he said.
Speaking to Dr Ramesh Sharma, one of the doctors who treated the injured sub-inspector said that "it was a team effort" to reattach the hand. "We had two purposes in mind; one was to ensure that the hand survived--which it did; and secondly was to ensure that the hand function returned," he said.
With regard to recovery, the doctor added: "It will take at least four-five months and he will have to do physiotherapy but the chances of hand function to return are very good and if everything goes to plan, he would be able to do 90 percent of the things he used to do previously.
The policeman's hand was chopped off and a few others were injured when a group of Nihangs allegedly attacked them at a vegetable market in Punjab's Patiala district on April 12.