COVID warriors no more: 19 doctors from TS, 22 from AP died during second wave
A total of 269 doctors succumbed to the coronavirus across the country in the second wave of infections.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 18 May 2021 12:19 PM GMT
Hyderabad: A 31-year-old doctor lost her battle with COVID 19 a week after giving birth to her first child. Dr. Farha, an assistant professor in pediatrics, was posted as a clinical associate at the Area Hospital in Gajwel, which is Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's constituency.
After testing positive for COVID-19, Dr. Farha was admitted to ESRA Hospital in Old Hyderabad. She breathed her last on Wednesday. The doctor, a resident of Hyderabad, completed her MBBS from Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences and MD in pediatrics from Niloufer Hospital, Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, Dr. P. Venugopal, the head of the department of paediatrics, Andhra Medical College (AMC), died at a private hospital. A soft-spoken and simple man, Dr. Venugopal had contributed to the development of the paediatrics department. He was also the honorary chairman of the IRCS Blood Bank in Visakhapatnam. He was a very resourceful man and his premature death is a big loss for Andhra Medical College, said its principal P.V Sudhakar.
AMC lost another doctor to COVID-19, the former HoD of community medicine T.A.V Narayana Raju. Many of his colleagues, including Dr. Sudhakar, remembered him as an affectionate teacher. "We were all his students and he was an authority in community medicine. It was only last year that he instituted a medal in community medicine in the name of his wife," said Dr. Sudhakar.
A serving anaesthesiology professor at Maharaja Institute of Medical Sciences, Vizianagaram, Dr. R. Varaprasad, also died of COVID-19.
These are not isolated cases in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh during the second wave of COVID-19. According to the Indian Medical Association, 19 doctors from Telangana and 22 doctors from Andhra Pradesh lost their lives in the second wave of the pandemic. A total of 269 doctors succumbed to the coronavirus across the country in the second wave of infections.
Bihar saw the highest number of deaths among doctors in India reporting 78 deaths, followed by Uttar Pradesh where 37 doctors died of COVID-19. The national capital ranked third with 28 deaths.
It may be recalled that after the Centre said it had no data regarding the deaths of doctors due to the novel coronavirus, a list released by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) showed that 10 doctors in Telangana and 42 in Andhra Pradesh died of COVID-19 during the first wave. A total of 382 doctors lost their lives due to the virus during the first wave.
