Thane: Senior doctor dies despite use of experimental treatment protocols

THANE: A senior physician from here succumbed to Covid on Monday despite doctors deploying prevalent experimental treatment protocols, including plasma therapy and a 10-day course of tocilizumab and remdesivir. Five doctors from here earlier succumbed to the virus and 65 others have been infected.
The 60-year-old doctor, who owns a hospital here, was admitted to a private facility two weeks back and later shifted to a hospital in Panchpakhadi for acute lung infection. Colleagues suspect he came in contact with an infected person while attending to patients at his non-Covid hospital.
“His lungs were severely damaged. He was the first person here to be introduced to plasma therapy, brought in from a private Mumbai hospital, late on Sunday,” said Indian Medical Association (Thane chapter) president Dr Santosh Kadam.
Outgoing IMA president Dr Dinkar Desai said he seemed normal but his condition worsened later. “We moved him to a private hospital with better facilities but his condition deteriorated and the next day he texted that he was on oxygen, which was his last conversation with me,” said Dr Desai. IMA iterated its demand for insurance cover to private doctors.