Although absolutely fit physically, young Gurvinder Singh Ramgarhia has not been able to get a job in paramilitary as his heart beats on the right side of the chest instead of the ususal left side.
Armed with fitness certificates from well-known heart experts, Gurvinder, who belongs to village Khat Sajwar in Sri Ganganagar bordering Pakistan, is running from pillar to post for the past two years to convince the authorities that he is a normal person and eligible to get the job in military and paramilitary. “But no one is willing to listen to me. They don’t even look at the certificates,” Gurvinder Singh told The Pioneer.
Recently he also sent a memorandum to the President of India through district collector seeking help to get job in military. In medical terms, the location of the heart on the right side is known as dextrocardio. “It is a very rare condition, but this doesn’t come under disability and the affected person could lead a normal life,” says noted heart specialist Dr Dl Bhardwaj.
Incidently, Gurvinder successfully completed all physical tests, including race and long jump, when he appeared for the recruitment of constables (lab assistant) in Seema Surkasha Bal (SSB) in January last year. But in the medical test, he was declared unfit for the job.
Six months later in August, he cleared every physical test for a job in CRPF, but once again the location of his heart led to his disqualification.
Gurvinder belongs to an economically poor class. After his schooling, he went to a private institute in Bikaner to join a diploma coursed in medical lab technology in 2005. “When our instructor was teaching us how to carry out ECG, I was asked to play as a patient. He was surprised to learn that my heart was not on left side,” remembers 25-year-old Gurvinder.
After he was declared unfit during SSB competition, on the advise of his friend and local doctors, Gurvinder went to PGI, Chandigarh. There a board of heart specialists, in their report, declared him fit.
“To make my case stronger, I went to Safdarjang Hospital in Delhi. There too heart specialists gave me the certificate of fitness and said I should be considered as a normal person physically,” claimed Gurvinder.
“All these reports and certificates are useless for me as no one is ready to give me a job,” he lamented.