As many as 269 doctors have so far succumbed to Covid-19 in the second wave of the pandemic, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) announced on Tuesday.
At least four states, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh have reported more than 20 deaths. These states reported 78, 37, 28 and 22 deaths, respectively.
According to the IMA Covid-19 registry on the official website, 748 doctors died of Covid-19 in the first wave of the pandemic.
“The numbers could be actually more but we only put out numbers after thoroughly verifying the details. Health care workers are always at the forefront, hence, more prone to contracting the disease,” Dr Rajan Sharma, former IMA president, said.
Deaths in other states include: Telangana (19), Maharashtra (13), Tamil Nadu (10), Karnataka and Odisha (8 each), Madhya Pradesh (5), Chhattisgarh and Jammu and Kashmir (3 each), Assam, Gujarat, Haryana and Kerala (2 each) and Goa (1).
According to the association, only 66% of the doctors have been vaccinated so far. The IMA has been regularly conducting awareness generation drives among health care professionals to encourage them to get vaccinated.
“Even though some doctors among the dead were vaccinated, that percentage (about 3%) is very small. It has been fairly well established that the vaccines lessen the severity of the disease, and stop the disease from progressing to serious illness. All should get vaccinated at the earliest,” Dr Sharma said..
{{/usCountry}}“Even though some doctors among the dead were vaccinated, that percentage (about 3%) is very small. It has been fairly well established that the vaccines lessen the severity of the disease, and stop the disease from progressing to serious illness. All should get vaccinated at the earliest,” Dr Sharma said..
{{/usCountry}}On the list of doctors who succumbed to the disease in the second wave was former IMA national president Dr K K Aggarwal.
The 62-year-old, who was awarded Padma Shri in 2010, died of Covid-19-related complications at 11.30 pm on Monday at New Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
A statement uploaded on his Twitter profile confirmed the news: “It causes us immense pain to inform you that our dear Dr KK Aggarwal passed away at 11.30pm on May 17, 2021, in New Delhi, after a lengthy battle with covid-19...”
“Even during the pandemic, he made constant efforts to educate the masses and was able to reach out to 100 million people through numerous videos and videos and educational programmes and saved countless lives. He wanted his life to be celebrated and not mourned,” the statement read.