In the seemingly endless battle with coronavirus that commenced in March 2020, with unbearable agony the country has seen several ‘grim milestones’. However, the data shared by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Sunday that more than 1000 doctors across the country have died fighting the pandemic since its onset last year will unnerve anyone. While on each single day doctors across the length and breadth of India have been dying, some reported and many underreported, May 16 will be the most painful- as many as 50 of them lost their battle on the day. Amid the overwhelming anguish, the disturbing reality based on IMA’s assessment is that the majority of these now-deceased doctors were not fully vaccinated!
It’s a matter of disgust that the media nowadays prefers to highlight more the weird comments of a certain ‘faithful’ Bollywood actress instead of these selfless warriors. News of death of a doctor or any frontline worker earns a single column treatment only on inside pages. Again, why the media alone should be blamed for this apathy. It needs recalling that in February first week this year, the Central government made the statement that only 162 doctors in total had died due to Covid-19 in 2020. Sharp reaction came from the IMA and terming the data as ‘shocker’ it asserted that the real figure was much bigger and around 750. Meanwhile, how fast and silently the death toll of the country’s doctors is increasing in the raging 2nd wave can be realised through a comparison with the first battle. While nearly 750 died in the first wave, during the prevailing 2nd one which is not more than 2 months old, as many as 269 have perished already and Bihar and UP have suffered the highest casualty with 78 and 37 respectively. There’s more to it- according to IMA, of all these doctors who died battling Covid 2.0, only 3 % were completely inoculated i.e. took both doses of the vaccine. The pandemic has already exposed the deep fault lines of India’s public health infrastructure and it’s not at all surprising since the national health budget is still less than 0.4% of GDP. In terms of doctor-patient ratio, for every 1,445 Indians there is just 1 doctor, which ideally (as per WHO recommendation) should have been 1 for every 1,000. With the pandemic’s overwhelming spread the scarcity has become acute and doctors are now overworked resulting in an alarming hike in viral load in their bodies, thereby escalating the chances of infection and death. 
The tale of tragedy will not end if herd immunity against coronavirus is not achieved. However, with people running from pillar to post to get vaccinated, that seems wishful thinking at the moment. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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