The corona pandemic has once again brought out the bitter truth that Punjabis have become the unhealthiest people in India. Out of a hundred people who get corona, 3 die whereas, the figure for the rest of India is 1.6. Why is there such a big difference? In 90% of cases of corona, mortality is due to co morbidity (co existing diseases). Punjabis have higher incidence of diseases like diabetes, hypertension and obesity than the other Indian people.  Meanwhile, the Punjabi population in Canada is also much unhealthier compared to the average Canadian population.                                    

By Sawraj Singh

          The corona pandemic has once again brought out the bitter truth that Punjabis have become the unhealthiest people in India. Out of a hundred people who get corona, 3 die whereas, the figure for the rest of India is 1.6. Why is there such a big difference? In 90% of cases of corona, mortality is due to co morbidity (co existing diseases). Punjabis have higher incidence of diseases like diabetes, hypertension and obesity than the other Indian people. 

Meanwhile, the Punjabi population in Canada is also much unhealthier compared to the average Canadian population. Therefore, it can be concluded that comparatively, the Punjabis also become unhealthier after migrating to Canada. My impression is based upon the available statistics as well as my personal experiences.                                                                                

                 About 20 years ago when I was writing my book "Crisis in Civilization a Sikh perspective", I found out that people of the Indian origin in Canada had about four times more risk of getting heart disease compared to the average Canadian population. Another interesting thing was that people of the Chinese origin had about four times less risk of getting heart disease compared to the average Canadian population. Many of our relatives and friends in Canada had heart surgery. One incidence stands out in my memory. President of a Gurudwara Sahib in Surrey told me, a few years ago, that he was very sad because they had three death services in one day. All these people died of heart attacks. One was in his thirties; the others were in their forties and fifties.  He felt that none of these people should have died in such a young disease.       

                                                                                                                                                     

                I was reviewing the available statistics on the prevalence of diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease and depression. In all of these our people have much higher risk of developing these diseases compared to the average Canadians. For example, a few years ago, I noticed in the Surrey General Hospital that out of the people on kidney dialysis, Punjabis seemed to be represented much more than their share of the population. It is very difficult to deny that the Punjabis consume much more alcohol than the percentage of their population.           

                                                                                                          

                 Another area where the Punjabis have made their mark is obesity. Quite a large percentage of our population is gaining more weight than they should. I know a few of our relative have already had surgery for weight reduction. WE were with one of our relatives who was having this surgery in a hospital in Jalandhar. There was a big crowd in the waiting room and like our relative most of these people were from Canada. I vividly remember a scene that happened many years ago in the Vancouver area. We were invited to a poolside party by one of our relatives in a very big farm house. Drinks were being served around a barbeque pit where all sort of meat was available. These relatives told me that they had already made their money and now they are just enjoying their lives. These people weighed at least three times more than me. None of these people lived beyond the age of 45.                                           

                 Punjabis may have made tremendous achievements in many fields in Canada. However, health is one field where we can hardly be proud of our achievements. We should do some scientific studies regarding the effects of immigration on our health. Such studies will be extremely useful in raising awareness about our health.                                                

Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at sawrajsingh@hotmail.com.