Aster DM Healthcare will pay the salaries of employees who have succumbed to COVID-19 to their dependents for 10 years.
The company said it will pay the basic salaries of the five employees who have so far died of the virus to their families, and pledged to do the same for any other employees who die of the disease in the future.
Aster employs 2,880 doctors, 6,280 nurses and 11,000 enabling staff across seven countries, and said 5,150 – nearly one quarter of the 21,000 employed by the company - had been infected with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Dr Azad Moopen, founder, chairman and managing director of Aster DM Healthcare said: “Our dedicated staff have been the real heroes in this battle against COVID-19, who put the needs of the patients ahead of their own lives.
“While most of the infected staff are back to work to continue the battle, although exhausted, few of them have succumbed to the sinister monster.
“They have unfortunately left behind young families with wives, children and ageing parents. While praying for their departed souls, we thought that we should provide the families some support as many of those who died were the sole bread winners for their families.”
Aster said it had treated 28,000 COVID-19 positive patients so far and carried out 1,662,726 tests in the Middle East and India.
Of the company’s 27 hospitals, 14 are in India, where COVID-19 cases have now topped 28 million, with more than 335,000 deaths. A new variant of the disease, now known as the Delta variant, was first detected in the country at the end of 2020.
(Writing by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Daniel Luiz)
imogen.lillywhite@refinitiv.com
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