Algeria’s Health Ministry sacked on Sunday the director of the Ras El Oued hospital in eastern Algeria after pregnant doctor, who worked at the IC surgery unit, died Friday from COVID-19.
Government sources confirmed that the ministry’s decision was based on preliminary results of investigations into the death of Wafa Boudissa, a 28-year-old doctor who was eight months pregnant when she died.
Sources said Boudissa had asked the hospital chief, who was not named, for early maternity leave, but he refused to let her take any time off.
The hospital had denied that the late doctor was treating coronavirus patients because another hospital in Borg Bou Arreridj is dedicated to infected virus cases. Therefore, the administration insisted that she had not caught the disease at the hospital.
Benbouzid visited the hospital and then Boudissa's family home to offer his condolences. He ordered an investigation into the death and, in an unprecedented move, tasked the inspector general of the health ministry to lead the probe.
Boudissa’s death topped Algeria’s news bulletins and sparked uproar across the country.
Sources at the Health Ministry, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed the decision to sack the hospital’s director, describing the move as an “administrative procedure” and noting that the issue could be presented to the judiciary.
The news came while Benbouzid said Saturday that 19 deaths to the coronavirus (COVID-19) have been reported among the medical and paramedical staff in Algeria since the outbreak of the epidemic.
Meanwhile, 198 confirmed cases of coronavirus, 98 recoveries and six deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours in the country, according to spokesperson of the Scientific Committee in charge of monitoring the pandemic, Professor Djamel Fourar.
According to officially declared figures, Algeria has registered 6,821 cases of coronavirus, including 542 deaths, since February.