The high mortality rate of healthcare providers infected by COVID-19 has always been a matter of concern in Bengal but the deaths of three doctors in Kolkata in a single day — on Monday — has shaken the medical fraternity.
The three doctors were ophthalmologist Biswajit Mandal, cardiologist Tapan Sinha and general physician Pradip Bhattacharya. Their deaths reiterate that even doctors handling non-COVID cases are equally at risk of getting infected.
Also, it is not just elderly doctors who are at risk, as indicated by the death last week of Dr. Nitish Kumar, a senior resident at the R.N. Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Science. He was only 36, and was set to qualify as a cardiac surgeon.
“We all know that the virus will be around for a limited time but the quantum remains unknown and until then, no one can be sure who is next,” said Dr. Saborni Paul, critical-care resident at the Bellevue Clinic.
The West Bengal Doctors’ Forum, which has extended an assistance of ₹5 lakh to the family of Dr. Nitish Kumar, said 21 doctors across West Bengal have died so far due to COVID-19.
“Three deaths in a single day in the city have shaken the very vitality and conviction of all medical personnel. We need to understand that all healthcare workers involved in COVID and non-COVID management are equally exposed to the risk of getting infected. The list of COVID martyrs says it all. It is high time that both the Centre and the State government came forward to take care of healthcare professionals. If we get demotivated, the whole system will collapse,” Dr. Kausik Chaki, honorary secretary of the forum, told The Hindu .
“Let the government and society come forward to do whatever it takes to keep healthcare professionals motivated. Every healthcare professional must be acknowledged as a COVID warrior and martyrs’ families must get their dues without having to ask for it,” Dr. Chaki said.
The forum has already demanded the setting up of exclusive level-3 and level-4 COVID-treatment facilities for healthcare providers, saying those who treat others should not run around for a bed when they are infected.
Bellevue’s Dr. Paul said: “Healthcare professionals have little choice but to confront the virus head on. The PPEs do provide some protection but the virus appears to be smarter. And so the battle rages, and so far the virus has all the winning scores.”
