Over 125 health workers infected in Amritsar so far

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 12

Since the outbreak of Covid-19, over 125 health workers working at various government health establishments have tested positive and two have lost their lives in the city. Dr Arun Sharma, Senior Medical Officer, and a Chief Pharmacist Officer of the TB Hospital have succumbed to the virus.

Civil Surgeon Dr Navdeep Singh is the senior-most official of the Health Department to have tested positive. Immediately after assuming the charge of Civil Surgeon in June, he had set an example by performing a life-saving surgery on a 27-year-old female at the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs’ Memorial Civil Hospital. He had set a kind of example by performing the surgery at a time when some health workers were trying to use their political or bureaucratic connections to avoid Covid-related duty.

Dr Amarjit Singh, Assistant Civil Surgeon, said about 14 staff members of the Civil Hospital, including six doctors, had tested positive. Dr Rajiv Devgan, principal of Guru Nanak Dev Medical College and Hospital, said: “Out of the over 1,000 staff members, a little over 100, including, 60 doctors, have tested positive”. He said around 60 per cent of them had rejoined their duties after recovery. He said despite increasing remuneration for Medical Officers, negligible number of applicants showed interest to join the duty during pandemic.

With Covid cases mounting to a new high every passing day, there is no denying the fact that the situation is turning worse in the border district. For instance, the highest single-day Covid-19 spike is touching a new high with each passing day. Earlier, the highest single-day spike of 197 cases was recorded on September 6, it spiraled to 230 cases on September 8 and the next day (on September 9), it surpassed all previous records with 347 new cases.

292 fresh cases, nine casualties in district

• The district reported 292 new cases and nine deaths on Saturday, taking the case count to 4,696 and toll to 249, respectively.
• The deceased have been identified as Bimala Rani (80) of Sundar Nagar, Mohinder Singh (78) of Dashmesh Avenue, Parveen Kapoor (78) of Gopal Nagar on Majitha Road, Sunita Gupta (64) of Kashmir Avenue, Mastram (74) of Rattan Chowk, Vijay Kumar (50) of Gawal Mandi on the Ram Tirath road, Swaran Singh (65) of Kotla Doom, Madan Mohan Kapoor (78) and Sardara Singh (73).