Publish data on healthcare personnel who contracted or died of COVID-19: IMA tells Centre

The Indian Medical Association on Friday, August 21 said that as many as 264 doctors across the country succumbed to lethal COVID-19 infection so far. The IMA cautioned that its numbers may not reveal the exact scale of infection in the medical community and has asked the Centre government to publish all the accurate COVID data in this concern.

Till August 21,1,953 doctors have been infected with Covid-19. Of this, 890 are practicing doctors, 767 are resident doctors and 296 are house surgeons, according to IMA’s figures.

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'Publish COVID data on healthcare personnel'

Dr R V Asokan, secretary-general of IMA (national) said that the government authorities may have their own data, but data on the number of infections and deaths in the medical community is based on what is voluntarily disclosed by the IMA members. Due to stigma, it is likely that doctors might not have reported cases, he added. Dr Asokan further urged the Centre to publish data on healthcare personnel who have been infected or died by the coronavirus. As cases are on the rise the number of fatalities too is likely to rise by mid-October, he added.

Former IMA national president Dr. Ravi Wankhedkar, now treasurer with World Medical Association, said it is likely that the number of doctors infected with Covid-19 is much higher than what the IMA data indicates.

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COVID-19 situation in India

As of Friday, India's Covid-19 figures stood at 29,05,824 of which 6,92,028 cases are active while 21,58,947 people have recovered. 54,849 people have died. Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state with the highest number of cases. The state recorded 14,161 new coronavirus cases on Friday, propelling the state's COVID-19 tally to 6,57,450. At present, there are 1,64,562 active cases in the state. With 11,749 COVID-19 patients discharged in the day, the number of recovered soared to 4,70,873. Until now, a total of 21,698 persons have died owing to COVID-19. So far, 34,92,966 samples have been tested for the novel coronavirus in labs operational across the state. 

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READ | 1,250 fresh corona cases take Delhi's tally to 1,58,604; death toll climbs to 4,270