The new Corona virus in Italy has claimed the lives of about a hundred doctors in this country where the death toll from the disease reached 18,000, their union announced to AFP on Thursday.
"We have the number of doctors who died due to Covid-19. It is a hundred and maybe 101 now, unfortunately," said the media office of the National Union of the Association of Surgeons and Dentists.
The website of the federation put up a black tape to express the mourning, and mentioned the names of all the doctors who died, including a number of retirees who were called in to help health services that exceeded the number of patients.
"We can no longer allow our doctors and health workers to be able to fight the virus without protection," wrote Union President Filippo Anelli.
"It is an unequal battle that hurts us, our citizens, and the country," he added.
Italian media reported that about thirty nurses and medical assistants also died of the virus. The World Health Institute said that about ten percent of the injured were medical personnel.
"Our goal is to help patients (...) and we are proving this in this epidemic," said the president of the nurses´ union, Barbara Mangacaveli. She added that "nurses make up 52% ​​or a higher percentage of health-care patients."
"Among the nurses, there are those who die as a result of Coffid-19 because of their proximity to the patients, and they do so without hesitation."
