The Union Health Ministry and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) are unable to agree on the the number of doctors who died due to Covid-19 over the two years – 2020 to 2022 – when the pandemic ravaged India.
While the union health ministry in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday said they have no data on the number of doctors who have died during Covid, the IMA, a national organisation of physicians with over 3 lakh members, said over 1600 doctors died during the pandemic.
In a written reply, Minister of State of Health and Family Welfare Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar said “disaggregated data on deaths due to Covid-19 by profession or otherwise is not maintained centrally.”
She said as of July 23, a total of 5,25,997 deaths due to Covid-19 (including those of doctors and healthcare workers) have been reported in the country.
The minister was answering a written question on the number of doctors and health workers who have died since March 2020.