Bangladesh-born British doctor dies from virus who pleaded for more PPE
Last month he wrote a Facebook message to Boris Johnson outlining the urgent need for PPE for frontline staff and calling for testing for healthcare workers to be fast-tracked
A Bangladesh-born British consultant has died from the novel coronavirus weeks after he pleaded for more personal protective equipment to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to report published in The Guardian on April 9.
Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, a consultant urologist at Homerton hospital in Hackney east London, died after spending 15 days in Queens Hospital, Romford.
Last month he wrote a Facebook message to Boris Johnson outlining the urgent need for PPE for frontline staff and calling for testing for healthcare workers to be fast-tracked.
He wrote: "Dear and respectable Prime Minister Mr Boris Johnson, Please ensure urgently PPE for each and every NHS health worker" and that the healthcare workers "are in direct contact with patients" and have a "human right like others to live in this world disease-free with our family and children".
Philip Glanville, the Labour mayor of Hackney, in a tweet hailed Chowdhury as a "hero" who died serving the borough.
"I hope his death wasn't as a result of continuing issues around testing & PPE, but it raises Qs. A sobering reminder of the lives being lost to keep us safe & the contribution BAME staff make," he said in the tweet.
Chowdhury, who was born in Bangladesh, was 53 and had no underlying health conditions.
The Muslim Doctors Association said it was "deeply saddened" by his death. In a Facebook post it said: "He leaves behind his wife and two children. Our thoughts and prayers are with them."
