Surat: An executive engineer of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), Hitendra Suthar (58), died following Covid-19 infection at a private hospital in Surat on Tuesday.
At least 27 employees of the civic body have become a victim of coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic last year. Four of the recent deaths were recorded in the last 15-20 days. According to SMC, Suthar had just one month left for retirement.
“Suthar was actively engaged in the fight against the pandemic since the beginning. When SMC created Covid-19 hospital at SMIMER Hospital, Suthar was looking after the housing department then,” a close colleague of the deceased engineer said.
“Suthar was first admitted into SMIMER hospital but his oxygen level dropped drastically and was shifted to a private hospital. He was later put on ventilator support and on Tuesday he breathed his last,” he added.
Earlier, in the first week of April, an SMC sanitary inspector Mohammad Hanif had succumbed to the Covid-19 infection. Of the 27 SMC staffers who have died of Covid-19 at least half are from the health department.
The deceased SMC employees include two sanitary sub-inspectors, four sanitary inspectors, two sanitation workers, seven clerks, four beldars, a junior engineer, a sub-officer (fire), a peon and an assistant accountant.
Of the nearly 22,000 employees of SMC, at least 1,500 have tested positive for the coronavirus so far.