CHENNAI: A 53-year-old government doctor succumbed to COVID-19 at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on Friday. He is the first government doctor to die due to the viral infection in the State.
According to a health department official, Dr Sukumaran, Chief Medical Officer (in-charge), Maduranthakam Government Hospital had tested positive for COVID-19 on June 19.
"He was initially taking treatment at a private hospital. He was shifted to RGGGH on June 30 after his condition deteriorated. He had diabetes and high blood pressure," the official said.
The official said the doctor was on duty in the Maduranthakam government hospital till June 17, before he developed symptoms. Though this government hospital does not provide treatment for COVID-19 patients, it is suspected the doctor might have got the infection from some patient who came for some other treatment.
Condoling the death of Dr Sukumaran, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Friday said, "Relief assistance will be given to the bereaved family as per the announcement already made by the government. Besides, government employment will be given to one of the family members. I have also directed the Health Department to extend all possible help to the family of Dr Sukumaran.”
Meanwhile, opposition leader M K Stalin and PMK leader S Ramadoss condoled the death of the doctor.
In his Facebook post, MK Stalin urged the State Government to provide proper PPE and other safety gears to the frontline workers and make sure such incidents do not happen in future. He also expressed his condolences to the family members of the doctor.
The Federation of Government Doctors Association requested the State Government to grant Rs 50 lakh compensation as announced by the state government earlier in case of deaths of frontline workers due to COVID 19.
The association has also requested Rs 50 lakhs be given to the doctor's family from the corpus insurance announced by the Union government. The association said the doctor's body should be buried with state honours.
The government doctors also requested the government to ensure safety of the doctors and expressed concern over the large number of healthcare workers getting infected by the virus.