PAF lady doctor dies of Covid-19

KARACHI: Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Flight Lieutenant Dr Mahnoor Farzand has died of COVID-19, the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) said on Sunday. Dr Farzand, who was eight months pregnant, was under treatment for the virus at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Malir Cantt for a week, said PMA Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad. She breathed her last on Saturday night. Her father also tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalised. He is under intensive care.

According to the PMA, with Dr Farzand's death, the number of doctors to have died of COVID-19 in Sindh rose to 77, whereas throughout the country, so far 220 doctors have died of the virus.

On May 12, the PMA had urged the government to provide the shuhuda compensation package announced earlier to the families of healthcare workers, as the death toll of doctors who succumbed to the virus exceeded 200. In a press release at the time, the PMA said 202 doctors and 30 paramedics had passed away from the virus. Out of these, 74 doctors hailed from Punjab while 64 belonged to Sindh. Among the doctors who had passed away due to the coronavirus, 53 belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while six hailed from Balochistan, three from Azad Kashmir and one doctor from Gilgit-Baltistan. Providing a further breakdown of the deceased healthcare workers' professions, the PMA had said among the frontline healthcare givers who had fallen to the infection, 24 were medical officers, 19 were general physicians and 13 were paediatricians.