The death of a police officer with COVID-19 in front of a hospital in Kairouan, central Tunisia, while he was seeking a dose of oxygen, sparked a wave of anger from union parties and on social media in the country, while the government announced an investigation into the matter.
The Police Union said on its Facebook page that Lieutenant-Colonel Jumaa Aboud, who was infected with the virus, “died after giving everything that a free man could offer to this country.”
It added: “The colonel died while seeking a dose of oxygen for his lungs, and the homeland, which did not spare him any drop of sweat to protect him from all dangers, refused to acknowledge the late Jamil and insisted that he did not provide him with a bottle of oxygen, and he died of suffocation in front of Ibn Al-Jazzar Hospital in Kairouan.” It denounced, “What does it mean to die when you are not satisfied with this country? What does it mean to die a stranger in a country that we gave blood!”
Mohammed Hamdi, Director of Al-Jazzar Hospital, where the incident took place, said in a statement to the local press that forensic medicine teams are working on the report to be submitted to the Attorney General’s office, and that the hospital’s camera recordings are being examined to clarify the incident.
Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi appointed Deputy Minister of Justice Hasna Ben Suleiman to open an investigation to the Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding Abboud’s death.
According to the data announced by the Tunisian Ministry of Health, 14.737 people have died in the country so far in the COVID-19 epidemic, and the total number of cases has approached 410 thousand.
It is stated that the number of those who have received the Covid-19 vaccine in the country is still below 500 thousand. Problems in the supply of vaccines cause an increase in the number of cases and a new wave concern in the pandemic.
