26-year-old doctor dies due to coronavirus in Rawalpindi

Published May 2, 2020
According to data shared by the National Emergency Operation Centre, at least 444 medical workers across the country have tested positive for Covid-19. — AFP/File
According to data shared by the National Emergency Operation Centre, at least 444 medical workers across the country have tested positive for Covid-19. — AFP/File

A 26-year-old female doctor passed away from the coronavirus at Rawalpindi's Holy Family hospital, it emerged on Saturday.

The hospital's medical superintendent, Dr Shehzad, confirmed that the young doctor died due to Covid-19. He revealed that Dr Rabia Tayyab had complained about mild flu and cough symptoms on April 20 which the doctors declared as "normal fever".

When her condition worsened after four days, she was brought to the Holy Family Hospital. She was put on a ventilator but died on April 30.

The doctor hailed from Gujjar Khan in Rawalpindi and was the daughter of renowned teacher Mohammad Tayyab. She graduated from the Quaid-i-Azam Medical College in Bahawalpur and was due to start her house job from May 1.

Rising infections among healthcare workers

Her death emerged a day after data shared by the National Emergency Operation Centre revealed that at least 191 more healthcare providers and medical workers tested positive for the coronavirus within a week. The total number of infected medical workers in the country has risen to 444.

Read: Infections amongst healthcare workers increase by 75pc in a week

The report showed that 216 doctors, 67 nurses and 161 healthcare staff tested positive across the country. Of these, 204 were in isolation at homes, 138 were admitted to hospitals while 94 had recovered from the disease.

According to the report, which contained data up until April 29, eight healthcare workers had died from the coronavirus so far. The first known Covid-19 fatality among the local medical community occurred in Gilgit-Baltistan where a young doctor, Usama Riaz, succumbed to the disease in March.

Early last month, Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro from Sindh became the province's first Covid-19 fatality from the medical community.

Last week, a senior doctor at Peshawar's Hayatabad Medical Complex passed away from Covid-19. He had been working in the hospital's coronavirus ward.

According to the report, three healthcare workers died from the virus in Sindh, two in Gilgit-Baltistan and one each in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad.

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