Congo virus claims BVH surgeon’s life

MN Report

KARACHI – Dr Sagheer Sameejah, a senior surgeon at Bahawalpur ‘s Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH), who was recently admitted to the city’s Aga Khan University Hospital, after being infected with Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), died on Saturday.

It was the second death from the CCHF in the country in the last fortnight. Earlier, one patient died in Karachi and the other in Bahawalpur. A patient whose lab reports have tested positive for Congo virus was under treatment at the AKUH at the time of filing of this report.

According to media reports, the first Congo virus patient, Ms Nadia hailing from Lodhran, died on July 17.

The details of the first Congo virus patient, a female nurse student, who was operated upon at the BVH, are still awaited.

According to an official of Sindh health department, Dr Sagheer was admitted to the AKUH with Dr Owais and Dr Alam. Dr Sagheer’s blood samples had been found positive for Congo virus.

The surgeon and his colleagues had operated a Congo virus patient about a fortnight ago at the BVH while Dr Owais was still under treatment at the intensive care unit of the AKUH, he added.

The sources in the AKUH said that the Congo virus infection had been confirmed in two patients, of whom one died on Saturday (July 30). The third patient had been discharged after its lab reports came negative.

Two patients died of Congo virus in Karachi last year while four persons suffering from the same dreadful disease were recovered.