Dingko, who undertook a 2,400-km road journey over two days to return to Manipur by a special ambulance from Delhi, was quarantined at a city hotel from May 22 on his arrival. The mandatory Covid-19 test before discharge from the quarantine centre returned positive on Saturday. Wife Babai Devi, who travelled with Dingko, has tested negative.
Dingko told TOI that doctors had confirmed the positive test. “They informed me yesterday, I was all ready to go home from the quarantine centre and now I’m back, admitted at the hospital,” he said. “Despite my condition, the doctors are confident I will be alright soon,” he added.
Before being discharged from Delhi’s Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) on May 19, Dingko had undergone the mandatory Covid-19 test and had tested negative.
Dingko Singh, right, with his wife in an ambulance
More than 40 staff and patients at the institute have tested positive since the outbreak of the pandemic, a senior official at ILBS confirmed. Dingko had been admitted to the ILBS on April 26 and was discharged on May 19 because chemotherapy could not be administered due to a spike in his jaundice.
As Delhi became one of the major Covid-19 hotspots in the country, Dingko was quarantined in his room at the ILBS given his compromised immunity. It was thought fit for him to leave especially since his treatment couldn’t be continued.
It has been a tough year for the 41-year-old former bantamweight boxer, who was airlifted from Imphal, courtesy efforts of the Boxing Federation of India, after his scheduled radiotherapy at Delhi was greatly delayed due to the lockdown. On examination, the doctors decided that his condition first needed chemotherapy instead, but even that could not be administered since his jaundice had not subsided.
In January, Dingko had contracted jaundice and was admitted to the ILBS, where a strong relapse of cholangiocarcinoma, a form of liver cancer, was suspected. Radiation was suggested since he had already undergone an entire cycle of chemotherapy in 2017, but it had to be put off due to a low blood count. He returned home in early March after spending over six weeks at the ILBS, hoping to improve his blood count.
