9 health workers die due to COVID-19 in two weeks

KARACHI: As many as nine doctors have lost their lives due to complications of COVID-19 during last two weeks in Pakistan, of which eight were from Sindh while one belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) said on Tuesday, saying it is extremely distressed over rapidly increasing number of doctors contracting and dying due to infectious disease despite being vaccinated.

“Unfortunately, nine doctors have died during last two weeks, which is dreadfully alarming. One of these nine doctors was from KPK and other eight doctors were from the province of Sind. Most of these ill-fated nine doctors were above sixty years of age,” PMA Secretary General Dr. Qaiser Sajjad said on Tuesday and blamed the authorities for neglecting the safety of healthcare professionals.

“We regretfully state that doctors’ safety is neglected by the authorities and even doctors neglect their own safety. Death of nine doctors in few days is a serious issue. Majority of doctors who died during pandemic are those who are not directly involved in examining COVID-19 patients”, Dr Qaiser Sajjad said, adding that healthcare professionals mostly get infected at their clinics because they are often seen very lenient in adopting preventive measures to keep themselves safe.

Due to this negligence, so far 216 doctors have died due to COVID-19 (Punjab-75, Sindh-75, KPK-56, Balochistan-6, Gilgit-Baltistan-1, Azad Jammu&Kashmir-3 and 31 paramedics have died of coronavirus, he added.

“In these circumstances we suggest that doctors should always adopt SOPs to ensure their own protection. Nobody should think that getting a vaccine jab minimises the need to follow SOPs, so wear mask and put face shield while examining your patients, wash hands after examining each patient”, he said, adding that principle of “No Mask No entry” should be strictly implemented at healthcare settings.

The PMA requests all healthcare workers, doctors and paramedics, to strictly follow the guidelines of WHO while examining your patients, he added.

On the other hand, national data from the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) states that so far 166 deaths among health staff have been reported including 102 doctors, 1 medical student, four nurses and 59 paramedics.