The Indian Medical Association's preliminary findings have shown that 93 doctors have lost their lives while treating COVID-19 patients in India.
Dr Rajan Sharma, National President, Indian Medical Association (IMA), in an interview with India Today disclosed that according to the latest count, 93 doctors have died so far on COVID-19 duty, while 1,279 medics have been infected. He added that at least 771 doctors under the age of 35 years, 247 doctors above the age of 35 years, and 261 doctors over 50 years have been infected.
Meanwhile, this figure does not comprise healthcare workers such as nurses and other medical staff. "We are working on a research paper of causes of these deaths, and how many have died in general practice, resident category very soon. IMA will come out with all figures and reasons behind this. We are not hiding from revealing this data," Dr. Sharma said.
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He reiterated these numbers have been "collated by IMA when presented with data collated by Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, who is the president of the Kochi branch of IMA in Kerala".
Whilst Dr Jayadevan has asserted that 110 doctors have lost their lives. He enunciated that his data has been derived from news reported by publications both locally and internationally. Dr Jayadevan stated that he is also collating the data of nurses and other healthcare workers.
Dr Jayadevan told India Today that his report is his individual work and doesn't reflect the IMA's opinion. "I collected the information as a tribute to doctors, nurses and healthcare staff across India who have been working in the pandemic and lost their lives, it was a report titled '100 Doctor Deaths in India during the times of COVID-19. Lessons, and a tribute'," Dr Jayadevan said.
He highlighted that he, to the best of his abilities, tried to "exclude those where the virus affected their lungs or their immunity and it killed them. Many were working amongst COVID-19 patients and died, and these deaths were attributed to COVID-19."
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