90 dead, IMA-Bihar seeks cover for all doctors

The Bihar chapter of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has formed a committee to investigate the reasons for the high number of Covid-19 fatalities among doctors in the state.

IMA said 90 doctors have died in Bihar ever since the second Covid-19 wave, adding that this was the highest among states.

Its report will soon be shared with the Bihar government.


The association’s Bihar chapter wants to ensure that the benefits of government schemes reach all doctors who have lost their lives due to Covid-19 while treating infected patients.

“Our committee will collect every information from the families of all such doctors who died of Covid-19 in the state. What were the medical facilities such doctors got before their death? Were they suffering from co-morbidities?” said Sahajanand Singh, the national president-elect of the IMA, who is also from Bihar.

According to Singh, the IMA has asked the state government to reserve at least two seats in public and private hospitals for the treatment of doctors who suffer from Covid-19.

The state government should pay compensation to their next of kin from its own fund, on the lines Telangana and Tamil Nadu. All private hospitals treating Covid-19 patients in the state should get oxygen facilities, he urged.

Sunil Kumar Singh, vice president of IMA-Bihar, said doctors who die in harness should be treated on a par with soldiers killed in the line of duty, and that their families should be paid a matching compensation.