A senior doctor of New Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital died of COVID-19 on Sunday. He was admitted to the ICU of a private dedicated coronavirus facility earlier in the day.
Dr Aseem Gupta was a consultant anaesthesiologist of LNJP Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 facility under the Delhi government. He was declared coronavirus positive on June 8.
“He lost the battle today after a valiant fight,” a hospital source said.
Sources said the doctor died in the ICU of Max Smart, a dedicated COVID-19 facility in Saket.
“He got a test done after he suffered from breathlessness. On 8 June, his test result came back as positive. He was admitted to LNJP’s ICU before being moved to the Max Super Specialty Hospital in Saket,” Dr Suresh Kumar, medical superintendent of LNJP was quoted as saying by ThePrint.
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According to reports, his wife – Dr Nirupama Gupta – too had contracted the deadly virus but recovered a few days ago.
Several hundreds of healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 to date in Delhi.
So far four doctors have lost their lives due to COVID-19 in the national capital.
A doctor from Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in Okhla in south Delhi recently died of the novel coronavirus infection.
Earlier, a 39-year-old doctor from Odisha had died of COVID-19 in the ICU of the Delhi government-run Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital on June 20.
Amit Shah disagrees with Manish Sisodia
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that remarks made by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in early June about the national capital reaching 5.5 lakh COVID-19 cases by the end of July had created “fear” among people and he expressed confidence that the stage will not be reached.
He also said that there was no community transmission of the disease in the national capital.
In an interview with ANI, Home Minister Amit Shah said a series of steps had been taken to contain the virus and multi-agency meetings had been held to improve coordination at various levels.
“Around the second week of June, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that by July 31 there will be 5.50 lakh persons infected with the virus. He said that there will be no place left, no beds left and the situation will be difficult. This created a lot of fear in the minds of people in Delhi. His estimate was based on figures. I do not want to go into whether estimate was right or wrong. But a situation of fear arose and some people started mulling an exodus (out of Delhi),” said Amit Shah.
“Till June 15, there will be 44,000 COVID-19 cases and we would need 6,600 beds. We would hit one lakh cases and would require 15,000 beds by June 30. There will be around 2.25 lakh cases till July 15 and COVID-19 cases will reach around 5.5 lakh by July 31,” Sisodia had said after a meeting of the state disaster management authority chaired by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal in early June.
Amit Shah disagreed with the prediction made by the Delhi Deputy CM.”I can say now with confidence that situation of 5.5 lakh cases will not come on July 31,” he added.
Answering a query about the need of coordination meeting called by him on June 14 which was attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, LG Anil Baijal and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and some experts, Shah said normally it is the duty of the Delhi government regarding coordination and improving the systems.
“But after remarks of Manish ji, I felt that the central government should not stay idle. Modi ji has accountability towards the country. PM also told me that the Home Ministry should take initiative to move forward and help the Delhi government. We are helping Delhi government but for coordination, central government called a meeting,” he said.
“We will be in good condition (By July 31st) because we have laid stress on preventive steps including more tests and contact tracing,” he added.
