A terrible toll of nine hero NHS workers have lost their lives in the fight against killer coronavirus, it emerged yesterday, as families and colleagues paid tribute to their lost loved ones.
The shattered husband of nurse Areema Nasreen told the Sunday Mirror: “She sacrificed her life for the profession she adored.”
Heartbroken Fasil Tahseen’s tribute came in stark contrast to the greedy appeal by the investment firm founded by Jacob Mr Rees-Mogg.
Fasil, married to Areema for 18 years said: “It was her dream to become a nurse. She loved helping people.”
She leaves sons Mohammed Zia, 17, and Mohammed Ziyaan, eight, and daughter Anaya, 10.
Areema was pictured alongside her proud family when she graduated last summer at Wolverhampton University. She died after catching Covid-19 from patients at Walsall hospital, West Mids.
Fasil said: “She gave up her life to save the life of others. How honorable was her life and how honorable was her passing.”
Other heroes lost in the line of duty include Aimee O’Rourke, a “highly talented” nurse who died at the hospital where she worked.
During the “clap for carers” on Thursday evening, the mum of three had been fighting for her life at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in her home town of Margate, Kent, but died later that night.
Aimee’s daughter Megan Murphy wrote online: “You are an angel and you will wear your NHS crown forever.”
The family of Dr Adil El Tayar have questioned whether enough was done to protect the “dedicated” organ transplant surgeon who died on March 25.
The 63-year-old, of West London, was working in A&E at Hereford Hospital, where his family believe he caught the virus. Son Osman El Tayar said: “My dad came here in the early 1990s from Sudan and we were all raised here.
“We’ve received so much from this country, but I worry about his final days and if enough was done to protect him.”
Beloved GP Dr Habib Zaidi died on March 26, just 24 hours after he was admitted to intensive care at is local Southend Hospital, Essex.
The 76-year-old grandad, whose wife and four children are all in the medical profession, won an NHS lifetime achievement award as he approached five decades in the profession. His GP daughter Dr Sarah Zaidi described his Covid-19 symptoms as “textbook”.
She said: “For that to be the thing that took him is too much to bear.”
Described as a “legend”, Dr Alfa Saadu died two weeks after self-isolating.
The medical director at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Essex and Ealing NHS Trust had dedicated nearly 40 years to the profession.
Son Dani Saadu revealed his father initially refused to go to hospital because he did not want to take up a bed others would need. He died on Tuesday at Whittington Hospital in north London.
Despite retiring in 2017, Dr Saadu continued to work part-time at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in Welwyn, Herts.
Ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Amged El-Hawrani was “fit and healthy” before he contracted the virus. The 55-year-old’s death was said to hit medical colleagues “like a train”.
They fell silent in his honour at Queen’s Hospital in Burton, Derbys, on Monday. And the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge phoned them to offer their sympathy and praise for the doctor.
Dedicated healthcare assistant Thomas Harvey, 57,had been caring for a patient infected with Covid-19 before he fell ill, a former colleague said.
The friend said Thomas was not given protective equipment or tested before he began self-isolating.
And the grandad, of Hackney, East London, was not admitted to hospital as he did not have a fever.
But he died in his bathroom last Sunday. Police had to break down the door to reach his body.
Colleagues of “wonder-ful” mental health worker Glen Corbin, 59, of Brent, north London, who recently came out of retirement, were devastated when he died. His NHS trust said: “He was the ‘go to’ person who knew everything about the ward.”
Mr Corbin came out of retirement.
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