Renowned doctor succumbs to Covid-19 in Karachi

Former head of JPMC’s ENT department Dr Usman was laid to rest on Saturday afternoon

KARACHI:

Former head of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre's (JPMC) ENT department Dr Usman, who was earlier diagnosed with Covid-19, succumbed to the contagion during the course of treatment in the early hours of Saturday.

Confirming the news, JPMC executive director Dr Seemin Jamali said Dr Usman was admitted to a private hospital after he tested positive of coronavirus. He was laid to rest on Saturday afternoon.

The funeral was attended by the Karachi corps commander, Sindh Rangers DG Omar Bukhari, doctors from JPMC and others.

Dr Jamali said Dr Usman was the first of JPMC’s doctors who had died due to Covid-19, adding that he had retired from the public healthcare facility a year ago.

The contagion has claimed lives of many doctors and healthcare workers throughout the country.

On October 1, a doctor, under treatment for the past two months since being diagnosed with Covid-19, passed away in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Dr Dost Muhammad, who served as the Provincial Coordinator for Multi-Drug Resistance in the TB Control Programme, was undergoing treatment at the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar for almost two months.

On July 5, another doctor died of the coronavirus in Peshawar.

Dr Hidayatullah Wazir was undergoing treatment at the Hayatabad Medical Complex before he succumbed to the disease, said sources. He was laid to rest at a graveyard in his hometown of Azeem Qi, they said.

At the onset of the pandemic in Pakistan, numerous protests were held by healthcare workers demanding the provision of personal protective equipments, protection, benefits, as well as improved working conditions as the pandemic added strain to an already burdened healthcare system.