Covid-19 positive Delhi doctor dies after lung transplant in Hyderabad

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued a notice to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry and Delhi Government on May 16, asking them to extend immediate financial assistance and other support to ailing Dr. Amit Gupta.

Recently, it had said the Delhi government has reimbursed the treatment cost of Rs. 83,43,819 to Dr Gupta.

In the first week of July, the doctor's family members had claimed that Gupta has not received any financial help from the Delhi government so far despite an assurance from Health Minister Satyendar Jain.

The Delhi government had then said it is standing beside Dr Gupta and his family, and the process of providing financial assistance to the family is underway.

Dr Amit Gupta had worked in the Covid ward of the Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra Hospital here for over a year. He first experienced Covid symptoms on April 19 and tested positive on April 22.

Since there were no bed available at the hospital, his colleagues treated him inside the duty room.

He was then taken to Shri Agrasen Hospital in Rohini. But when his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to the Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon on May 11.

Gupta was then flown to Yashoda Hospital in Hyderabad where he was on Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support and later shifted to another hospital where he underwent a lung transplant on August 1.

'He passed away on Saturday. He had undergone a lung transplant but maybe his body could not take it. He had developed some complications after the surgery,' the friend said.

He is survived by his wife, also a doctor, and a six-year-old son, parents and a sister. His family had shifted to a rented accommodation in Secunderabad in May.

To fund his treatment, the family had started a crowd-funding project and was able to collect Rs 26 lakh.

On May 18, Health Minister Satyendar Jain had tweeted that the Delhi government will take care of the medical expenses of Gupta.

'Our corona warriors are our strength and the Delhi government stands with them in these tough times,' the minister had said. Citing Gupta's case, the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) had also written to Jain, requesting him to provide cashless treatment facility for infected doctors admitted in hospitals.