Katugastota hospital doctor dies of COVID

A doctor attached to the Katugastota hospital died yesterday while receiving treatment at the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital after contracting COVID-19, hospital director Dr. Arjuna Thilekerathne said.

He said the doctor, Zaid Rafaideen, a resident of Mawilmada area in Katugastota, contracted the deadly virus and was transferred to the Peradeniya hospital on August 18.

He was under treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the last three weeks. The Peradeniya hospital staff put up a strenuous effort to save his life, but death took his precious life away, Dr. Thilekerathne said.

The body is to be taken to the Oddamavadi burial grounds in Batticaloa today, he said. (Chamil Rupasinghe reporting from Kandy)