A 23-year-old Filipino nurse died last Friday after 12-hour shift at Watford General Hospital in the United Kingdom.
John Alagos was attending patients diagnosed with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the hospital when he fell ill, BBC reported.
He was the third nurse in the UK believed to have died due to COVID-19.
The nurse reportedly couldn’t leave the hospital despite being ill.
Alagos’ mother, Gina Gustillo said his son was asked to remain on duty since the hospital was short-staffed.
“I asked ‘why didn’t you come home?’ He said he had asked other staff but they said they were short of staff and they did not let him go,” the grieving mother told the Daily Mail.
The 50-year-old mother also said that his son’s co-workers told her they were working without adequate PPEs during shift. “They wear PPE, but not totally protective of the mouth. They wear the normal masks,” she said.
She would later find her son unconscious and turning blue in his bed. Gustillo, who is an NHS mental health nurse, called the 999 immediately but the paramedics failed to revive him.
The hospital released a statement, following the Alagos’ death and said that the “staff are fully briefed on the symptoms of Covid-19 and we would never expect anyone to remain at work if they were showing these symptoms or indeed were unwell in any way.”
“We have always kept our staff updated on the latest PPE guidance to make sure they have the right level of protection for where they are working,” it added.
Tracey Carter, chief nurse at the hospital, described Alagos as very popular and that “he will be missed greatly by his colleagues.”
Meanwhile, Gustillos is awaiting for her test results and is currently under self-isolation.
