At least 500 doctors have succumbed to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the country so far, according to the updated list from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Friday, which is nearly half the number of claims resolved or not. process to be solved by the government to compensate Covid-19 doctors who lost their lives due to the viral infection.
“Our latest figures say that 515 doctors treating Covid-19 patients have been martyred in the country so far. And these are all allopathic physicians that we have identified through our various IMA branches – there are 1,746 functional branches across the country. Actually, the number could be much higher, ”said Dr. Rajan Sharma, IMA President.
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According to the IMA database, the doctor-patient ratio is 1: 194. Most of the doctors (201) were in the 60-70 age group, followed by 171 deaths in the 50-60 age group years. Over the age of 70 there were 66 doctors and 59 doctors were between 35 and 50 years old. At least 18 doctors who died were under 35 years old.
However, the government has maintained that there is no central database that provides the exact number of doctors who lost their lives in the line of duty.
Health Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey also recently said in Parliament that public health and hospitals were under the states, so the Center did not maintain any such databases.
The only record that is kept is the number of compensations that are being processed under the government’s insurance plan for health workers in this pandemic: the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana package.
At the Covid-19 press conference on September 22, the Union’s health secretary, Rajesh Bhushan, had mentioned that 242 claims under the scheme had been processed or were in process.
“We are closely monitoring the data from the PM pandemic response package. There is insurance coverage amounting to Rs 50 lakh for all frontline healthcare workers, and this has recently been extended to March 2021. Under this package, 62 claims have been settled, more than 130 claims … and more than 50 claims yet to come from the states, ”Bhushan had said.
Even that number is half the number published by IMA.
“How can the Center wash its hands of its responsibility? How come they can’t maintain a central level database when you need an Aadhar card to get tested for Covid-19 via reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test? How difficult can it be then? said Dr. Sharma.
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