Coronavirus: Indian-origin family of 5 doctors loses father, daughter to COVID-19 in US

By Team Newsable | First Published May 8, 2020, 2:46 PM IST

An Indian-origin father-daughter doctor duo (Dr. Satyender Dev Khanna, 78, and his 43-year-old daughter Dr. Priya Khanna) passed away due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) in New Jersey, USA. New Jersey governor Phil Murphy paid rich tributes to the pair

New York: An Indian-American family of five doctors lost father and one of the daughters to the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) in New Jersey.

Dr. Satyender Dev Khanna, 78, and his 43-year-old daughter Dr. Priya Khanna passed away in the US and New Jersey governor Phil Murphy paid rich tributes to the duo.

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Satyender’s two other daughters Dr. Sughanda Khanna is an emergency medicine physician and Dr. Anisha Khanna is a pediatrician. His wife too is a doctor, Dr. Kamlesh Khanna, a pediatrician.

Dr Satyender died at the Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville where he worked for more than 35 years. Dr. Priya too passed away in the same hospital where she worked.

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“She (Priya) was double board certified in both internal medicine and nephrology, and completed all of her medical training in New Jersey. Priya was also chief of residents at Union Hospital, now part of RWJBarnabas Health, and completed her fellowship in nephrology in South Jersey with the Cooper Health System. She was also medical director at two dialysis centers in Essex County,” according to nj.com.

Dr. Satyender Dev Khanna and Dr. Priya Khanna were father and daughter. They both dedicated their lives to helping others. This is a family dedicated to health and medicine. Our words cannot amply express our condolences. pic.twitter.com/aLGCZETrWT

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy)

“The dad, Dr. Satyender Khanna, was a surgeon who served both on staff and as the head of surgical departments for multiple hospitals across our state (New Jersey) for literally decades and he passed at Clara Maass Medical Center, where he had worked for more than 35 years,” Murphy said at the daily press briefing on Thursday (May 7).

“Priya will be remembered as a caring and selfless person who put others first, and even while in the hospital fighting her own battles, she continued to check up on her mom and dad and her family,” he added.

“This is a family, by the way, dedicated to health and medicine. Our words cannot amply express our condolence, nor am I sure can they express the pain that the Khanna family is feeling. But I hope the fact that our entire state mourns with them is some small comfort. And we mourn everyone that we have lost. We commit in their memory to saving as many lives as we can,” he said.

“(Satyender) Khanna was a pioneering doctor, as one of the first surgeons to perform laparoscopic surgery in the state. He was passionate about bicycling and often biked along the Jersey Shore,” Murphy was quoted as saying.

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