GP, 76, who ‘felt it was his duty to help’ becomes 21st medic to die of coronavirus
A RETIRED GP who returned to work to help the NHS in the battle against coronavirus has died aged 79 after contracting Covid-19.
Fayaz Ayache, who said he “felt it was his duty to help”, was taken by ambulance to Ipswich Hospital on April 2 and died six days later.
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The grandfather, who lived in Raydon in Suffolk, had been diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia and coronavirus.
His eldest daughter Layla Ayache, 35, said her father retired around two years ago but his retirement was short-lived.
She said he was back working “a couple of days a week” as a GP with North Clacton Medical Group soon after as he wanted to help people.
He also ran an ear, nose and throat clinic at Ipswich Hospital.
Dr Ayache had stopped working about three and a half weeks ago due to the risk of coronavirus, his daughter said.
She said she did not know where he had contracted the virus, but believed he may still have been seeing people to give medical advice.
“My dad was very, very commonly phoned and people would say ‘my daughter’s ill’ or ‘my son’s ill’ or ‘my husband’s ill’,” she said. “He would often pop round and just check people were OK.
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“He was a rural village GP at heart and that’s the sort of thing that he would do.
“I wholeheartedly believe that if someone had called him with a concern he would have gone over and checked they were OK, because that’s what he wanted to do for everybody.
“His entire life was split between his family and his work. That was all he lived for really, was those two things.
“He was the most dedicated GP that I’ve ever met.”
She said her father had expressed concern for people’s safety during the pandemic.
“All he ever said was that he was concerned for everyone’s safety and that he wanted to help,” Ms Ayache said. “He felt it was his duty to help.”
Dr Ayache had worked for the NHS in Suffolk for more than 40 years and helped raise funds for refugee charities to help people in his birth country of Syria.
He is survived by his two daughters Layla and Sarah, Sarah’s wife Katie and his granddaughter Paisley.
This tragedy comes as tributes flooded in yesterday for Rebecca Mack, 29, after she became the latest medic to be killed by the deadly virus.
Rebecca, of Morpeth, Northumberland, worked at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary before becoming a 111 medic.
Alice Kit Tak Ong, 70, died at the Royal Free Hospital in London on Tuesday after she contracted Covid-19 from working in surgery without the right equipment.
Her daughter, Melissa Ong, described her mother as a “wonderful woman” who was “generous to everyone else before herself”.
Dr Anton Sebastianpillai, died aged 75 on Saturday at Kingston Hospital having been cared for in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
The consultant geriatrician, who qualified as a doctor in Sri Lanka in 1967, finished his last shift on March 20.
His death came after heart surgeon and dad-of-two Jitendra Rathod, who worked at the University Hospital of Wales, died on Monday morning in Cardiff after testing positive for Covid-19.
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The dad-of-two was described as an “incredibly dedicated surgeon” who cared deeply for his patients and was highly regarded in the medical profession in Wales.
Elsewhere, a British Pakistani GP based in East London died in hospital on Monday after it is believed he developed coronavirus symptoms.
According to The News International, a newspaper in Pakistan, Dr Syed Haider had been receiving treatment at Queen’s Hospital in Romford where he passed away.