Global head of IT Infrastructure Services at TCS, Amit Jain died of a massive heart attack a couple of days ago. He was 53.

Sources said Jain collapsed in the middle of a presentation to a senior executive of TCS. They said, the pressure of enabling the offshore delivery centre for ‘Work From Home’ in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, combined with sheer exhaustion for not having slept for an entire week, were the major reasons for his massive heart attack.

Denying the messages about the reason for his younger brother’s death floating around in social media, Mukul Jain said “My brother had a cardiac arrest at 3.30pm on March 17th and was rushed to Hiranandani hospital near his workplace. The junior doctors were unable to revive Amit with CPR and by the time the seasoned cardiologists attended to him, it was too late, he went into a coma and passed away on March 19th. Through all of this TCS went out of the way to ensure that Amit gets the best possible treatment and solace at this time of stress.”

What is more ironic is that Amit Jain, a non-smoker, teetotaller and a vegetarian, who was “health conscious and walked everyday for an hour” succumbed to a massive heart attack. “Amit is a single-company man and has worked with TCS for over 32 years. He had no previous history of BP or hypertension. He was very hard working and always rose to the occasion at TCS. Yes, because of COVID-19 lockdown, he was working on a tight deadline to enable Work from Home for over 4 lakh of TCS employees. Tell me who is not under stress during these trying times” said Mukul Jain.

Asked if Amit Jain’s heart attack was caused due to severe stress, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairman & Executive Director, Narayana Health, a cardiac surgeon with 34 years of experience said “a stressful situation can be a precipitating factor for a heart attack but it is not the cause. “This is a typical case of Silent Ischemia, where the patient who definitely has an underlying coronary heart disease shows no symptoms at all. It runs in the family. It is a very common disease and 50 per cent of my patients suffer from Silent Ischemia. But, we do not live in the Victorian Era. Today, we have tests to predict the incidence of heart attack 10 years in advance with a CT Scan which costs Rs 8,000 to Rs 12,000.

“All companies have a moral obligation to treat their employees well and not add any undue pressure. In such uncertain times, empathy isn’t a matter of choice and honchos must treat everyone else the same way they would like to be treated. Having said that, with little or no experience in managing such situation, confusion is natural, but then, one must err on the side of caution” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst, Greyhound Research.

“In the current state of affairs, clients and other stakeholders will understand delays and other slips in delivery and business objectives must take a back seat. It is important to remember when its all over, current and future employees, vendors and clients will measure these companies on the compassion they offered during such trying times” asserted Gogia.

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