Awaiting Late Husband's Dues, Amritsar Covid Warrior Dies By Suicide

A medical officer with the Amritsar Municipal Corporation has allegedly died by suicide apparently upset over the government's failure to release the dues owed to her late husband, a doctor who died in August while undergoing COVID-9 treatment himself.

Dr Sonia Sharma, who died on Monday, is survived by a son and daughter.

Sources close to the family told NDTV that Dr Sharma was upset that repeated requests had failed to get the government to pay her the dues towards her husband, Dr Arun Sharma, a Senior Medical Officer at the Amritsar Civil Hospital. He had had died on August 30 after developing ICU psychosis while undergoing treatment for COVID-19.

ICU psychosis is a disorder that patients admitted to the intensive care units (ICU) of hospitals sometimes develop, becoming temporarily psychotic.

The Punjab health department, however, claims that Rs 50 lakh were paid to Dr Arun Sharma's family following his death.

Dr Arun Sharma, an MD in blood transfusion, had hit the headlines following the circulation of a video on social media of him dancing to the tunes of Punjabi songs while undergoing the COVID-19 treatment.

The COVID-19 death figure in Punjab rose to 5,201 on Sunday, while 337 fresh cases took the overall number to 1,63,042. There are 5,618 active cases in the state currently, according to a medical bulletin released on Sunday.