A doctor-turned MSP has revealed he did not hug his newborn baby for eight weeks for fear of giving her covid.
Tory Sandesh Gulhane also said his young son thought he had stopped loving him when he kept his distance for the same health reason.
Gulhane, 39, disclosed his personal experiences of the last pandemic during a speech at Holyrood. He was elected as an MSP for Glasgow in May.
He said he had been born to immigrant parents from India who came to the UK with “nothing”, but through “hard work and sacrifice they educated me”.
Gulhane said he had started as a doctor in 2006 and has worked in A+E, general practice and out of hours care.
He paid tribute to his patients during the pandemic and the “bravery and humanity” of colleagues.
He said: “When my lockdown baby was born, I stayed away because of the fear of passing covid to her. I did not hug her for 8 weeks. My new born baby.
“But I kept seeing my patients. I kept my distance from my 7 year old son because of the fear of passing covid to him.
"And one day he asked my wife why I didn’t love him any more.
"Had he done something wrong? But like my nursing colleagues I kept seeing my patients.”
He added: “I stood for election to voice the pain of my patients, to voice the burn out of my colleagues, to voice everyone’s desperate wish for us to work together.”
