Itanagar: Senior pathologist, Dr Gamba Padu Riba, attached to at Tomo Riba Institute of Health & Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) succumbed to Covid-19 and multiple organ failure on Tuesday after putting up a month-long battle against the virus. Apart from her regular duties, the doctor walked extra miles to provide help to the needy in Itanagar.
The doctor was a resident of Arunachal Pradesh's Naharlagun. She was tested COVID positive last month after which she underwent treatment in the ICU for 37 days. She suffered multiple organ failures and her condition deteriorated. Despite the best attempts of the doctors, she breathed her last on November 9 at the New Delhi AIIMS.
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Gamba did her schooling from RK Mission Aalo and she pursued her MBBS from the prestigious Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi. She did her post-graduation from RIMS, Imphal, and then went on to serve the state as a pathologist.
Dr Gamba and her husband Dr Komri Riba were also associated with a New Delhi-based NGO Helping Hands and would often pay visits to the special children's homes and the less privileged to conduct their medical checkups. Helping Hands is an NGO that strives to help the needy in Northeast India and northeasterners residing outside the region. Despite her busy work schedule, she offered medical counselling to the needy people of the region.
Robin Hibu, Special Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, who is also the president of Helping hands told East Mojo, " She used to tell me how happy and she felt blessed in serving these helpless/ mostly abandoned children," said.
These voiceless disabled and blind children would miss this kind-hearted lady, who was an angel to them and left them for heavenly abode by her untimely death," Hibu added.
The Indian Medical Association's state chapter (IMA-AP) expressed grief over the untimely demise of the doctor. As per a recent media report by Arunachal Times, a condolence letter to Dr Gamba's husband, senior ENT specialist at TRIHMS Dr Komri Riba, IMA-AP president Dr Lobsang Tsetim and general secretary Dr Jego Ori recalled Dr Gamba as "a wonderful and a very special person" and termed her death "an irreparable loss for the entire community."
Doctor from Arunachal Pradesh's Naharlagun, Dr. Gamba Padu Riba, who went beyond the call of her regular duties to help the needy in Itanagar, succumbed to #COVID-19 and multiple organ failure on Tuesday. https://t.co/7PmRP0Nypo
— Dr Amarinder Singh Malhi MBBS/MD/DM@aiims_newdelhi (@drasmalhi) November 11, 2021