Families mourn Mexican doctor lost to COVID

Families mourn Mexican doctor lost to COVID

MEXICO CITY: Christian Cruz specialized in intubation. Jesus de la Torre gave advice over the telephone to colleagues treating coronavirus patients. Diego Gutierrez worked long days examining tumors through a microscope. The three doctors are among several thousand heath workers who have died from COVID-19 in Mexico-which has the highest such toll in the Americas. The loss is not only irreparable for their families but also devastating for Mexico, one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic and facing a shortage of specialists.

Cruz was an anesthesiologist of Colombian origin who specialized in inserting tubes in patients' airways to help them breathe. As the pandemic ripped through Mexico he found his services in ever higher demand in both the public and private hospitals where he worked. Cruz, who was 32 years old when he died on December 12, suffered from systemic sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that put him at heightened risk from the coronavirus. "We took extra care of ourselves,“ his widow Yesenia Leyva told AFP next to her husband's picture and the laryngoscope he used to intubate patients. "We all have a chance of getting sick from being exposed for so long, especially in our work,“ said Leyva, a 33-year-old