74-year-old Srinagar doctor dies of Covid : The Tribune India

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, June 13

After developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to coronavirus infection, a senior doctor died in Kashmir on Saturday.

The 74-year-old doctor from Parray Pora locality of Srinagar, who tested positive for coronavirus on June 5, died at SKIMS in the wee hours of Saturday.

“He developed ARDS due to Covid-19 and was admitted to the hospital on June 5,” said Medical Superintendent Dr Shifa Deva.

The patient was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), she said. However, he had tested negative for coronavirus two days ago, she said.

“Being a COPD patient he developed ARDS due to coronavirus infection but had tested negative for the virus two days back. We are figuring out whether to put him in Covid deaths or not,” she said.

The doctor’s condition worsened on Friday and was given ventilator support but didn’t survive, she said, adding that the patient had a travel history to Delhi.

The senior doctor hails from Baramula and had been living in Srinagar for several years. He had worked in the Middle East for two decades before shifting back to Kashmir.

So far, 54 people have died of Covid-19 in J-K – 48 in Kashmir and six in Jammu regions.

Srinagar district has reported 13 Covid deaths, the highest in any district in J&K, followed by 10 in Baramulla, Kulgam 8, Anantnag five, Shopian four, Jammu and Kupwara three each, Budgam and Pulwama two each, Udhampur, Rajouri, and Bandipora one each.

There was one death and 156 tested positive for coronavirus, among them four doctors, in Kashmir on Friday, taking the total cases of infection in J&K to 4,730.

Majority of the coronavirus cases – 3,633 – have been reported from Kashmir, and Jammu has reported 1,097 cases.