At least 196 doctors across India have died from the new coronavirus disease, the country’s largest body of medics has said, urging the Centre to extend to the private sector the Rs 50-lakh special Covid-19 insurance available to government healthcare staff.

The Indian Medical Association said on Saturday that 78 (around 40 per cent) of the 196 were general practitioners, who represent the first port of call for a significant proportion of patients with symptoms of fever, upper respiratory tract infections or influenza-like symptoms.

The IMA’s list includes a 59-year-old ophthalmologist in Howrah, a 52-year-old paediatrician in Chandigarh, a 55-year-old radiotherapist in Patna, a 55-year-old neurosurgeon in Chennai and a 56-year-old ear-nose-throat surgeon in Bangalore, among others.

General practitioners have died from Covid-19 in Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, the IMA said.

Covid-19 “does not differentiate between the government and private sectors”, the IMA has said in a letter sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

The letter also underscores that general practitioners “spend quality time in consultation” with their patients.

The list of 196 doctors includes 43 in Tamil Nadu, 23 each in Maharashtra and Gujarat, 19 in Bihar and 16 in Bengal. It suggests that the Covid-19 death toll among healthcare workers in India is higher than the number of insurance claims the government has received.

The Union health ministry had on July 31 said it had received 131 claims from the families of healthcare workers who had died on Covid-19 duty, releasing for the first time a number about casualties among healthcare staff. The Rs 50-lakh insurance scheme introduced earlier this year currently covers around 22 lakh healthcare workers from all categories, such as hospital ward staff, nurses, paramedics, technicians, doctors and specialists.

The IMA has also expressed concern about what it says are anecdotal reports of doctors or their family members not getting beds for admission with Covid-19 symptoms, and reports of drug shortages at some facilities.

Its letter to Modi urges the government to ensure adequate care for doctors, who are a special risk group. It says that every doctor’s life saved can potentially benefit thousands of patients, whom he or she might treat in future.

“We’re asking the government to provide adequate attention to the safety and welfare of doctors during the pandemic,” Rajan Sharma, IMA national president and a signatory to the letter, said. The other signatory is IMA general secretary R.V. Asokan.

Physicians tracking Covid-19 infections among healthcare workers in India have said the accounts of infections among doctors without known contact with coronavirus-positive cases point to community transmission of the virus, where the source of infection is difficult to trace.