A 42-year-old contractual doctor, who was working with Delhi government's National Health Mission, died yesterday of coronavirus.
Dr Javed Ali had been on the frontline in the fight against the highly contagious illness since March. He tested positive for coronavirus on June 24 and was hospitalised for treatment over the next three weeks.
For the last 10 days, he was on a ventilator. Yesterday morning, Dr Ali died at the AIIMS trauma centre. He is survived by his wife and two children - a six-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.
The family has demanded compensation saying that contractual workers are not provided with any help despite working day and night.
"I am proud of my husband. He kept working till the end and he is a martyr. He did not take even one day off since March. He worked even on Eid," Dr Heena Kausar, his wife told NDTV.
The cost for the initial treatment at the private hospital was also borne by the family. "No treatment cost was covered when he was at a private hospital initially. We spent around Rs 6 lakh from our own pockets," she said.
"How will I survive as a single mother? It is my humble request to the government that they should provide compensation and my husband's job should now be given to me," Dr Heena Kausar added.
The NHM Doctors' Welfare Association has also written to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain about this.
Over 2,000 members of the NHM, including 240 doctors, are on COVID-19 duty in Delhi, which has logged over 1.23 lakh cases so far.
Last week, the country's top medical body - the Indian Medical Association or IMA - had issued a "red alert" for those in the fight against coronavirus, which has affected over 11.5 lakh people in India.
Ninety-nine doctors have died so far and over 1,300 have been infected, the top body medical body said.
"While the Medical Profession remains the beacon of hope for the nation to lead the exit from the pandemic, COVID death among doctors has become a matter of great concern. IMA strongly advocates the leadership of doctors in adopting all scientific best practices," Dr Rajan Sharma, National President, IMA.
In Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore in April for the families of the health workers if they die while dealing with COVID-19 cases.
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