Physician serving Covid patients dies of dengue
Asad Sikder, a medical cadre of 33rd BCS, was at the end of his residency to be a pulmonologist
"Today I've also got a fever, myalgia and occasional dry cough. Have just completed the Covid roster and got huge mosquito bites during duty. Keep me in your prayers," Dr Asad Sikder gave this message to his colleagues on Friday night.
The 34-year-old physician died on Sunday night, just two days after the message. He was serving the National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital in the capital as a post-graduate resident.
"After two days of fever, Dr Asad Sikder was taken to the Mugda hospital on Sunday evening where the doctor declared him dead. The cause of death is suspected to be dengue encephalitis," Dr Nirupom Das, chief administrator of the Bangladesh Doctors' Foundation, told The Business Standard.
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Asad Sikder, a medical cadre of the 33rd batch of the Bangladesh Civil Service or BCS, was at the end of his residency to be a pulmonologist. Who knows dengue would claim his life this way!
The physician was careful about his duty but the carelessness of the authorities who were supposed to keep hospitals clean and free of mosquitos led him to death.
"We have lost a number of physicians to Covid. Now, dengue claims one. The big losses will have a serious negative impact on our overall health system," Md Ehteshamul Huq Choudhury, general secretary of the Bangladesh Medical Association, told The Business Standard.
"Hospitals are repeatedly always criticised for their dirty environments. Yet, there is no significant change. We request the authorities, please keep the hospitals clean. Do emphasise mosquito killings. We want no death of healthcare providers in such a way,"
He also urged all to be extra careful about dengue along with Covid.
Dr Asad used to see poor patients free of cost in his home district of Manikganj every Friday, according to his colleagues. Last week, he could not do that due to the Covid duty in Dhaka. When returned to his village home at night on the same day, he got the fever.
On Saturday, he was admitted to The Manikganj Sadar Hospital and tested positive for dengue. The platelet counts in his blood fell radically to 1,10,000 the next day.
"Asad's wife called me and informed me that they would take Asad to our hospital. I kept a cabin prepared for him. But, we found him dead when he reached our emergency department. Yet, we took him to the CCU unit and made some futile attempts," lamented Mugda Medical College Hospital Medical Officer Dr MA Taher, who was once a senior colleague of Asad.
"Asad worked with us during the peak hours of Covid. He was very jolly and friendly. We all bear good memories with him," he told TBS.
The young physician got married just three years ago and had a 9-month-old baby boy.
"Such a death cannot be tolerated. We all are shocked," said another dear one, Dr M Nurul Islam from the Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital. He told TBS that he and Asad got acquainted in Sunamganj, where Asad was once posted as a physician.
Asad passed MBBS from the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical College in Faridpur.
Meanwhile, Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam expressed his deep condolences over the death of the young physician.
