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Surgeon, 63, who volunteered to join fight against deadly virus, dies of COVID-19

Dr Adil El Tayar, 63, an organ transplant consultant, spent his last days in the intensive care unit
PUBLISHED MAR 29, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

A surgeon who had volunteered to fight the spreading coronavirus pandemic died from the disease on Wednesday, March 27. 

Dr Adil El Tayar, 63, an organ transplant consultant, who was volunteering at St Mary’s and St George’s hospitals in London, after having treated patients around the world, was originally from Sudan. He had signed up to help in the A&E and general department of Hereford Hospital in the Midlands as the United Kingdom ramped up its battle against the deadly virus, Mirror reported. 

He had graduated from the University of Khartoum in 1982 after which he worked in Saudi Arabia and Sudan. He moved to the UK in 1996 and studied at the University of West London. 

He became the first working surgeon in the UK to die from the virus in the West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth, west London. His cousin, BBC journalist Zeinab Badawi, said the father-of-four as someone who was “always willing to help, always with a willing smile”.

“He'd wanted to be deployed where he would be most useful during the crisis,” she said, adding that she learned about her cousin's death shortly before people across the UK gave the National Health Service workers a mass round of applause on Thursday.

A sign directing patients towards a Coronavirus pod at University College Hospital on March 4, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Getty Images)

Badawi also did not sugarcoat her words when she described how fast the virus had spread in her cousin's body shortly after he got infected. “It had taken just 12 days for Adil to go from a seemingly fit and capable doctor working in a busy hospital to lying in a hospital morgue, she said. 

Before Tayar became ill in mid-March, he returned to London after working in the Midlands. Self-isolation alone did not work for the surgeon and he was admitted to the hospital on March 20. The last days of his life were spent in the intensive care unit. 

Dr Hisham El Khidir, another cousin of Tayar, also said the surgeon will be "sorely missed." “Adil was someone who was central to our family, who was well-respected by so many people,” he said. 

Irfan Siddiq, the British Ambassador to Sudan, paid tribute to the surgeon on Twitter. “Saddened to hear of Sudanese doctor Adel Altayar's death in the UK from Covid-19.
“Health workers around the world have shown extraordinary courage. We cannot thank them enough. In this fight we must listen to their advice," he wrote.

Just days after the Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson, tested positive for COVID-19, he penned a letter from his home urging people to stay indoors to protect doctors and other health staff working at the NHS. The letter will be sent out to around 30 million households around the country in the coming days.

"You must stay at home. We know things will get worse before they get better," Johnson's letter says, Metro reported. "But we are making the right preparations, and the more we all follow the rules, the fewer lives will be lost and the sooner life can return to normal."

He went on to thank all the health workers of the country. "It has been truly inspirational to see our doctors, nurses and other carers rise magnificently to the needs of the hour. Thousands of retired doctors and nurses are returning to the NHS – and hundreds of thousands of citizens are volunteering to help the most vulnerable. That is why, at this moment of national emergency, I urge you, please, to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives," he wrote.

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