John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, for appearing in the Chamber to take this Topical Issue matter. I begin with a quote: "He's been an outstanding doctor and the best dad we could have asked for." So said Dr. Samar Fatima Ali, daughter of Dr. Syed Waqqar Ali, in paying tribute to her father this evening. The Minister will be aware that Dr. Ali, who worked at Tallaght Hospital in my constituency and at the Mater Hospital, died today following a battle with Covid-19. Dr. Syed Waqqar Ali passed away after spending three months in ICU. It is clear that he put up an incredible battle and that he was attended in that struggle by very dedicated healthcare workers. It is hard to avoid clichés but it is a timely reminder of the deadliness of the virus. It is particularly poignant that a front-line healthcare worker, involved in trying to save other people's lives and give them hope, succumbed to it himself.

As the Mater Hospital stated earlier, Dr. Ali was a front-line healthcare worker who provided selfless emergency care to Covid-19 patients at a number of hospitals, including Tallaght Hospital in my constituency. It also stated he had been due to begin a shift at the Mater Hospital in April when he felt unwell.

That was at the height of the pandemic. He asked to be seen as a patient and was admitted immediately because he had contracted the Covid-19 illness.

His colleagues today remember him as a hard worker and diligent doctor with a humble and down-to-earth personality. However, the Irish Medical Organisation has also stated that this tragedy reminds us, as I mentioned, of the risk faced and sacrifices made by health professionals in the fight against Covid-19. I know the Minister is very familiar with the fact that approximately one in three cases of Covid-19 involves healthcare workers. In recent weeks, as the disease became less common in the community, the proportion of cases involving healthcare workers increased.

As the Minister knows, Dr. Ali is the eighth healthcare worker to die of Covid-19 in this State. Dr. Ali was a locum, although I do not know if any of the other healthcare workers who succumbed to the virus were playing a locum role. I understand from one of his colleagues that he was the father to five children. I do not claim to know anything about his financial position and I do not want to put forward any suggestions around it. However, in this pandemic when locums working in the public health service help to fight Covid-19 but fall victim to the virus, the State should consider providing some form of financial support for the bereaved families. He was working on the public health front line without the entitlements that full-time staff have with pensions and leave, for example. I ask that the Minister consider what could be done for the families left behind when locum doctors like Dr. Ali lose their lives to this awful disease.

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