Father And Daughter Doctors In NJ Die Of Coronavirus – Springfield, NJ Patch

UNION, NJ — A father and daughter who are both doctors— and who come from a family of five doctors — were two of the state’s recent coronavirus victims, said Gov. Phil Murphy in his daily press conference on Thursday. He also announced that the state’s death toll from the virus had climbed to 8,801.

Dr. Priya Khanna, 43 died at Clara Mass Hospital back on April 13. She was chief of residents at Union Hospital, and had trained the ICU doctor who had cared for her before she died at Clara Mass.

This week, her father, Dr. Satyender Dev Khanna, 78, passed away.

Both physicians had been sick since the first week in April. Their doctors were urgently searching for plasma donors to treat them.

“They both dedicated their lives to helping others,” Murphy said. “He is being remembered by colleagues as ‘A gentle and caring physician.’ He also had a passion for bicycling and he often found peace from the hustle of the hospital in biking along the Jersey shore.”

Murphy added, “His daughter, Dr. Priya Khanna, was double board certified in both internal medicine and nephrology, who proudly did all of her medical training right here in New Jersey. She was chief of residents at Union Hospital, now part of RWJ Barnabas Health, and then did her fellowship in nephrology in South Jersey with the Cooper Health System. And like her dad, she also worked at Clara Maass where she passed. She was medical director of two dialysis centers in Essex County, was a teaching attending, taking pride in teaching the next generation of doctors.”

He added, “Priya will be remembered as a caring and selfless person who put others first and even while in the fighting her own battle, she continue to check up on her mom and dad and her family. She loved swimming, spending time at the shore, beaches generally, and traveling.”

Satyender left behind his wife, Dr. Kamlish Khanna, a pediatrician, and Priya’s two sisters, Dr. Sue Ganda Khanna, an emergency medicine physician, and Dr. Anisha Khanna, a pediatrician.

Murphy said, “We commit in their memory to saving as many lives as we can.”

A Twitter account called COVID19 physicians has been chronicling the doctors who are battling the virus.

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In New Jersey, a week ago Thursday, Gov. Phil Murphy said 460 New Jerseyans had been lost to the virus in 24 hours, an all-time high rate, or one person every three minutes. By Tuesday afternoon, the governor said there had been 334 deaths since the previous day, bringing the total up to 8,244 people. Two days later, the total had risen to 8,801.

Other statewide updates:

NURSING HOMES

  • The state said this week that they will take new action to tackle the spread of the virus in long-term care facilities, although residents have disputed the death toll numbers that the facilities have reported to the state. Thursday, the state began bringing the National Guard to supplement staff and help make changes.
  • The state presented an updated list of nursing home cases and deaths on Wednesday. See the list of facilities by clicking here.

SCHOOLS

  • Early this week, Gov. Phil Murphy said New Jersey schools will be closed for the rest of the year. He said he was not sure yet about day camps and day cares.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

  • Here’s what you need to know about applying for unemployment and other benefits during coronavirus. MORE.
  • Read more about unemployment, small business, and other coronavirus regulations and benefits in New Jersey here.

Here are statewide coronavirus resources:

  • NJ COVID-19 Information Hub: https://covid19.nj.gov/
  • General COVID-19 questions: 2-1-1
  • NJ COVID-19 hotline: (800) 222-1222

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