Three more doctors succumb to Covid-19

Three more doctors have succumbed to Covid-19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) in the past few days, bringing up the total number of doctors killed in the pandemic to 55 so far.

Around 89 health workers have also lost their lives in which 55 are doctors. According to the Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) Dr Hakim Shah of Cantt General Hospital Peshawar breathed his last in the hospital. He was a child specialist by profession and had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where he had been put on ventilator. He died on Friday. Similarly, District Health Officer (DFO) Shangla and Buner, Dr Shahi Room died in Saidu Teaching Hospital (STH) Swat. He was laid to rest in Barikot area of Swat at his ancestral graveyard.

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By the same token, former DHO Buner and former DMS Saidu Teaching Hospital Swat Dr Amir Sultan also fell victim to Covid-19. He was also on ventilator for the past couple of days. He was also laid to rest in Shakai, Swat. PDA has hit out at the provincial government once again for its failure to pay compensation to the families of deceased doctors who died due to corona. “Only a single family has been provided the compensation package by the government so far while the remainder of the families are still waiting for it despite the fact that the cabinet approved the package and government made repeated announcements in this regard,” said the information secretary of PDA Dr Salim while talking The Express Tribune.

“There is no compensation package, no Covid-19 risk allowance and not even proper PPEs for the doctors and frontline health workers in the province,” he said. So far 55 doctors, 15 paramedics, six nurses and 19 other staffers including technicians, drivers and lab attendants as well as ward attendants have died.