Occupational Challenges and Physician Deaths During COVID-19 Pandemic

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases have rapidly expanded across the world since its first case which was detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Globally, about 69 521 294 confirmed cases and 1 582 674 deaths have been reported till December 12, 2020.1 In Bangladesh, the first three COVID-19 cases were confirmed on March 8, 2020. Since then, cases have been rising, and by 12th December, a total of 489 178 confirmed cases have been reported with 7020 deaths.2 . Health care providers (HCPs) all over the world are the most vulnerable group to the coronavirus infection as frontline fighters. In Bangladesh, the situation is poorer, as about 80 000 registered doctors out of 100 000 are dealing with COVID-19 patients as frontline fighters3 as the total workforce was not divided by a plan to combat this pandemic situation. In addition to shortage, intensive care units (ICUs) had not raised standards for treating COVID-19 patients and many hospitals were not equipped with a central oxygen line.4 These accelerate the early death of patients and infection to HCPs in Bangladesh. Lack of negative air pressure in isolation units and ICUs causes the spread of infected aerosols to HCP while providing services to admitted patients. A continuous 12 hour-work time, as opposed to the usual eight hours, creates a physical and mental strain on healthcare providers during the time of the pandemic. A young doctor in China died of a heart attack resulting from continuous work of 10 days.5