Over the past decade, Dr Ranj Singh has become a much-loved household name, appearing as a resident doctor on This Morning and Morning Live, wowing us on All Star Musicals, winning Cooking With The Stars and competing on Strictly, where he dazzled with his unforgettable Aladdin-inspired quickstep.
But away from the sequins and camera crews, Dr Ranj, as he’s affectionately become known since first gracing our screens on CBeebies show Get Well Soon, still works part-time as an NHS doctor.
Talking to him, it’s clear medicine remains a strong focus, despite the draw of showbiz.
In fact, the importance of looking after our own health is a lesson he learned at a very young age, when both Ranj, now 43, and his younger brother Harminderjit, 42, developed asthma.
“I can still remember the panic of lying in bed when my breathing was bad, wondering whether I’d be able to catch my next breath, which was a really horrible experience,” he says of his childhood in Medway, Kent.
“Thankfully my asthma was only ever mild, and I was lucky enough never to be hospitalised.”
In fact, the pair both believed they had “grown out” of the condition once they reached adulthood, having not been troubled by symptoms for years.
But when Covid struck, the brothers received an unexpected wake-up call.
At the start of the pandemic, Harminderjit, who works in financial services and still lives in Kent, came down with Covid and started struggling for breath.
“I wasn’t with him, but by the time he got to his local medical centre he was too breathless to speak,” says Ranj, who lives in London. “And although he recognised that he was probably having an asthma attack, he didn’t have an inhaler or a clue how serious it actually was.”
“Thankfully he got help, has recovered and he’s been fine ever since, but his life was definitely put at risk that day,” Ranj says. “It was a reminder to me of how dangerous asthma can be.”
It’s one of the reasons Ranj makes time to support leading lung charity Asthma + Lung UK. According to the charity’s research, one in six adults don’t realise asthma attacks can be fatal and yet four die from one every day.
Additionally, 70per cent of those with asthma are not getting the basic care they are entitled to, such as a yearly asthma review, due to pressures on the NHS.
As lung disease is the third biggest killer in the UK, it is obviously cause for concern.
“Potentially anyone with asthma can become very ill,” says Dr Ranj, who has also seen it first hand having spent years working in children’s A&E and intensive care in London hospitals.
“The last thing I want to do as a clinician is to scaremonger, but I do think it’s important to realise that asthma can put both children and adults into ICU.”
Although asthma is a relatively common condition, affecting around 5.4 million people in the UK, Dr Ranj believes it should be taken far more seriously than it is, and admits he finds people’s nonchalant approach frustrating and worrying.
“As a doctor, I have looked after children with asthma in intensive care who are extremely unwell. It’s an unpredictable condition and if it’s not managed properly it can make people dangerously ill.
“Putting a child on a ventilator is never an easy option and it is always a shocking outcome for parents. Some simply don’t realise that asthma can be life-threatening.
“This needs to change if we want to prevent children from ending up in hospital with serious asthma attacks,” he stresses.
Dr Ranj’s timely warning comes early in the new school year, when children are at most risk of life-threatening asthma attacks because they are exposed to the “perfect storm” of viruses, colder weather and a change in routine. Recent statistics from Asthma+ Lung UK have revealed that the number of children hospitalised in the first four weeks of the autumn term can surge by up to 300 per cent.
“Some children may fall out of their usual preventer inhaler routines over the summer break which can leave them much more vulnerable to an attack,” explains Erika Radford, head of health advice at Asthma + Lung UK.
“The best thing parents can do is to ensure their child takes their preventer inhaler (usually brown) every day as prescribed. This helps calm the inflammation in their airways and reduces the risk of an asthma attack.
“Children should also have their reliever inhaler (usually blue) and a spacer (if they use one) at school to use if they have asthma symptoms.”
But for Dr Ranj, it’s not just about changing peoples’ behaviour, it’s about challenging unhelpful attitudes.
“People see asthma as a mild illness that isn’t harmful, but the truth is it can be dangerous, even fatal, and needs to be taken seriously,” he stresses. “It’s surprising the number of people with an asthma diagnosis who don’t carry a reliever inhaler with them, and who don’t know what to do in the event of an asthma attack. We need to change that.”
He believes asthma should be treated as seriously as a food allergy and reliever inhalers put on an equal footing with EpiPens and carried everywhere. “If someone goes into anaphylactic shock, it is treated as a medical emergency, but if someone has an asthma attack it is often dismissed as a bit of a cough or a wheeze and that isn’t right,” says Ranj.
The good news is, he adds, that if managed really well, asthma doesn’t need to dominate the lives of children or parents. This is a sentiment echoed by Erika, who says there are precautions parents can take to prevent their child from becoming seriously unwell or ending up in hospital.
“Parents should make sure that their child has a yearly review with their GP or asthma nurse,” she says.
“This should include a check to ensure they are using their inhaler properly and have a written asthma action plan.”
Over a million children in the UK have asthma and every 2.5 minutes a child has a potentially life-threatening asthma attack. The warning signs that a child’s asthma symptoms are getting worse include coughing and wheezing at night or early in the morning, breathlessness, complaining about chest or stomach pain, or needing their reliever inhaler (usually blue) three or more times a week.
“Older children present very much like adults and tend to cough and wheeze, fortunately they are usually able to express what they are feeling,” explains Dr Ranj.
“But if a younger child is struggling to breathe, amongst the usual signs parents need to look out for are fatigue, a reluctance to speak or play and a tendency for them to pull in their chests when breathing as they might not be able to articulate what is happening.
“By being vigilant, giving medication as prescribed and knowing how to deal with an asthma attack, most parents should feel in control of their child’s asthma,” he adds.
“But it’s still important to know when to get help and what to do in an emergency.”
- Asthma + Lung UK is committed to transforming lung health by campaigning for breathlessness
to be taken seriously, funding
groundbreaking research and providing advice and help to people with lung conditions. For more on asthma attacks, visit asthmaandlung.org.uk or call
0300 222 5800.
- Dr Ranj’s latest books, Brain Power (£9.99; Wren & Rook) and Superpower Like Mine (£6.99; Hodder), a picture book for younger children, are out now.
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