174 doctors died due to COVID19, six in Telangana: Centre
According to the Ministry of Health, a total of 174 doctors, 116 nurses and 199 other health care workers succumbed to the virus in the country.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 7 Feb 2021 12:22 PM GMT
Hyderabad: Hyderabad: A 35-year-old government doctor, Dr Naresh Kumar, who headed the Manuguru-based quarantine centre, succumbed to COVID-19 after battling the virus for a week at a hospital in Hyderabad on 7 August.
He was the deputy district medical and health officer (Dy DM&HO) and the district immunisation officer when he aborted his plans of becoming a super-specialist to serve the needy in the predominantly tribal populated district.
Dr Naresh hailed from Bhadrachalam. He is survived by his wife and two children, sources in the DM&HO office said.
Apart from Dr Naresh Kumar, according to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in Telangana so far, six doctors had succumbed to the virus while six nurses and 13 health care workers which includes ambulance drivers, ward attendant, pharmacist, lab technicians, radiographer died after getting infected with COVID-19.
In Andhra Pradesh, 15 doctors, 17 nurses and 12 health care workers lost their lives from COVID-19. The highest number of healthcare care victims were from Maharashtra where 21 doctors, 11 nurses and 55 health care workers lost their lives.
According to the Ministry of Health, a total of 174 doctors, 116 nurses and 199 other health care workers succumbed to the virus in the country. "Based on the intimations received from the states under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package: Insurance Scheme for Health Workers fighting COVID-19, these are the number of doctors, nurses and other health care workers who died due to the pandemic as on 2 February," said Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare.
Though this is the official number from the health ministry, according to a list released by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) 10 doctors in Telangana and 42 in Andhra Pradesh have died of COVID-19. A total of 382 doctors have lost their lives due to the virus in the country.
Also, the ministry of health and family welfares said that they don't have any data on how many health workers are working in different states for COVID-19. "As Health is a state subject, there is no centralized data being maintained by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on the number of doctors, nurses and other health workers engaged in various government hospitals for COVID duty," said Ashwini Kumar Chaubey.
"Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID-19 was launched to provide comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs. 50 lakh to around 22.12 lakh healthcare providers, including community health workers and private health workers drafted by the Government for COVID-19 related responsibilities, who may have to be in direct contact and care of COVID-19 patients and who may be at risk of being impacted by the virus," said the minister.
