Abul Khair Mohammad Shamsuzzaman, the director of the National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Centre, has died after contracting COVID-19.
Shamsuzzaman passed away on Saturday morning while undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Russel Gastro-Liver Institute and Hospital in Dhaka. He had suffered lung damage due to the coronavirus infection. Doctors pronounced him dead at 7:30 am, Faruque Ahmed, director of the hospital, said.
“The infection in his lungs never cleared up. He also suffered from diabetes, high pressure and obesity. Age was also a factor. He was first admitted here on Apr 10. He was initially in one of the cabins and was later transferred to the ICU when his condition worsened,” he said.
Shamsuzzaman, a professor of microbiology, had served as the director of the health directorate’s disease control branch and the director of the IEDCR.
He had worked as the director of the National Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Referral Centre since its inception. The centre has played a key role in conducting coronavirus tests since the start of the pandemic.
“Bangladesh has lost a skilled, responsible and dutiful medical professional with the passing of Dr AKM Shamsuzzaman,” the Bangladesh Health Reporters forum said in a statement.
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