completely vaccinated even after the five-month-long vaccination campaign. The IMA said that it is making every effort to persuade doctors to take the vaccine. IMA president Dr JA Jayalal said, “The second wave of the pandemic is turning out to be extremely fatal for all and especially for the healthcare workers who are at the forefront”.
Dr Jayesh Lele, the General Secretary of IMA, said, “It is very unfortunate that we lost 50 doctors on Sunday across India and 244 in the second wave since the first week of April”. He stated that the IMA has discovered that many doctors have still not received the vaccine and that the organization will do everything possible to confirm that all frontline doctors and healthcare workers receive the vaccine with no delay.
He spoke about the doctors’ tireless work round the clock. He said, “Secondly we want to highlight that doctors are understaffed and overworked. They sometimes work for 48 hours at a stretch without any rest. This adds to the viral load and they ultimately succumb to the infection. The government needs to take measures to boost the healthcare workforce”. Though the IMA claims that thousand doctors have died as a result of Covid, the true number may be much higher. IMA has records of only 3.5 lakh members. India, on the other hand, has over 12 lakh doctors.
