Death toll of healthcare workers in Pakistan due to COVID-19 reaches 100
Dec 01, 2020
Islamabad [Pakistan], December 1 : At least 100 healthcare workers have died from COVID-19 in Pakistan as concerns grow over lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers in the country's second coronavirus wave.
The count shared by the National Command Operation Center (NCOC) includes doctors, nurses and medics have who put their lives at risk to care for others since the first case of the virus was reported in Pakistan in late February, reported Geo News.
Of the 100 who died during the pandemic, 71 were doctors, 26 paramedics, two nurses and one a medical student, according to the official figures.
At least 10,300 healthcare professionals have been infected with COVID-19, with the highest number of infections reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 2,638, followed by 2,463 in Sindh and 2,534 in Punjab.
The NCOC said that 51 infections were reported in the country among healthcare providers in the last 24 hours.
Geo News reported that doctors say that they are again dealing with a shortage of PPE equipment as COVID-19 infections are soaring after a slump in August and September.
A doctor at the Mayo Hospital said that the hospitals will be able to purchase the protective equipment for the next six months only when funds are released by the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government.
The hospital has 981 N95 face masks when it needs 12,000, and 87,300 surgical masks when it needs a minimum of 200,000.
"At the moment, we don't have any protective equipment whatsoever," Geo News quoted a senior doctor at Jinnah hospital in Lahore.
At Jinnah hospital, 22 healthcare workers from the Radiology Department were tested on November 19. Of them, 14 tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the latest update by Johns Hopkins University, Pakistan has a total of 400,482 COVID-19 and has reported 8,901 deaths.
