COVID-19: Delhi and Bihar reported the highest deaths among doctors, 594 doctors in India lost their lives during the second wave

State wise data released by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) show that a total of 594 doctors have lost their lives during the second wave of COVID-19. Majority of these doctors belonged to the states of Delhi, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

More than 1,300 doctors have died since the pandemic began last year, of which 747 were during the first wave of the pandemic.

Delhi reported that 107 doctors died on duty, according to the IMA data, which was released on June 2. Meanwhile, Bihar lost 96 doctors, and 67 succumbed to the Coronavirus infection in Uttar Pradesh. Rajasthan recorded the death of 43 doctors and the data shows that Jharkhand lost 39 doctors.

So far, India has reported 2.82 crore cases of COVID-19 and 3.32 lakh deaths since the pandemic began, out of which Delhi has reported 14.3 lakh cases and a total of 24,237 deaths and Bihar reported 7.07 lakh cases and 5,163 deaths. India has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world.

For the frontline health care workers, India’s central government has announced a new system of processing the insurance under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) — Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID-19’. The country’s health ministry stated that claims would be certified by the district collectors and will be settled in 48 hours after the approval. “This order is aimed at cutting down delays and to further streamline and simplify the processing of the insurance claims,” said the ministry.

The following table shows the complete state wise data of doctors who lost their lives during the second wave: