As the second wave continues to lash across the country causing a monumental rise in coronavirus cases and deaths, over 50 doctors lost their lives to the virus on Sunday, 16 May. According to the Indian Medical Association, 244 doctors have lost their lives due to COVID since the second wave started.
The highest number of fatalities have been reported from Bihar (69) followed by Uttar Pradesh (34) and Delhi (27). In the first wave, 736 deaths of doctors were reported.
What is worrying is that even after five months into India's vaccination drive, only 66 percent of India's healthcare workers have been fully vaccinated and the country is staring at an acute vaccine shortage.
Medical professionals had also pointed out that the healthcare staff is being overworked and this adds to the viral load.
Twenty-six-year-old Anas Mujahid who was working as a junior Resident Doctor at Delhi's Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital is the youngest doctor who died due to COVID this year in the country. He passed away within hours of testing positive, reported NDTV.
Experts have pointed out that the actual number of fatalities will be far more than the reported data. It is important to note that the doctors’ association has a record of its 3.5 lakh members while India has more than 12 lakh doctors.
With 263,533 new infections over the last 24 hours, India’s total coronavirus cases surged past 25 million on Tuesday. The country recorded 4,329 deaths, taking the overall death toll to 278,719.
India has become only the second country after the United States to cross 25 million COVID-19 cases.
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