KARACHI, Sept 20: A senior faculty member of the Bolan Medical College, Surgeon Dr Ayaz Mandokhail, who was admitted to a private hospital in the city about a week back after being infected with the Congo virus, died here on Tuesday.

Dr Mandokhail, 44, was believed to have contracted Congo-Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) during a surgical operation of a patient, who was later diagnosed with the dreaded disease, at a private hospital in Quetta about 20 days back.

“The surgeon was rushed to the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, as soon as he developed CCHF symptoms such as low blood pressure, diahorrea and significant weakness,” said sources in the Bolan Medical Complex Hospital, Quetta.

Dr Mandokhail and Imran Ahmed, a technician, had caught the virus while treating a patient for severe abdominal disorders and gall bladder complications. It was only after the patient, said to be an Afghan national, did not stop bleeding despite the best efforts put in by the surgeon that blood samples were sent to an institute in Islamabad for a Congo virus test.

The technician, who also tested positive for the Congo virus, was admitted to an isolation ward of the Fatima Jinnah Hospital in Quetta. Doctors said his condition was improving gradually.

About Dr Mandokhail’s health, one of his associates said that since he had undergone a liver transplant in 2008 and was still on some medicines that had reduced his level of immunity.

Just a day ago, the AKUH declared that Dr Mandokhail had tested positive for the CCHF and that he had been admitted to the hospital. “The hospital confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that Dr Mandokhail had expired in the morning,” said a Sindh health department official.

Dr Mandokhail is survived by a widow, a son, a daughter, a mother and two younger brothers. His body was taken to Zhob, his hometown, for burial which would be held on Wednesday at 4pm, said a postgraduate trainee doctor of Dr Mandokhail.

The trainee doctor, Sattar Achakzai, and Dr Ahmad Wajid Durrani of the Civil Hospital Quetta, described the surgeon as a nice, competent and patient-caring person who was going to be promoted as an associate professor soon.

It was in view of his patient’s severe condition that Dr Mandokhail, who was also working as acting head of the unit-2 of the general surgery department, BMCH, decided to operate upon him after having baseline investigations, one of the doctors said.

Regarding the Afghan national, it is said that he and his attendant died in a road accident on their way to a hospital in Karachi for post-surgery treatment.

About Dr Mandokhail’s health condition at Karachi’s hospital, his consultant at the AKUH Dr Faisal Mahmood said he was in the mid stages of the infection and was relatively stable at the time of admission though he started showing signs of increasing severity very early.

His treatment was started within 48 hours of admission once his preliminary results were reported positive, Dr Mahmood said.

Regarding testing of family members and others who came in contact with the Quetta-based surgeon in recent days, the medical consultant said: “Only exposure to patient’s blood is dangerous.”

He explained that there was no test to check an exposure but the presence of the virus could be detected if someone developed its symptoms.

Dr Mandokhail had completed his MBBS at the Bolan Medical College and pursued the FCPS course and training before joining the BMCH as a senior registrar a decade back. He was appointed assistant professor through the public service commission in 2006, according to one of his colleagues.