Samar Sinjab, a general practitioner of Syrian origins, died on Thursday April 9 from the novel coronavirus. Some 104 doctors have died of Covid-19 in Italy since the epidemic began.

Hospitalized March 7, struggled until the very end

She was "passionate about her work and was endlessly devoted to her patients," one person who knew her said, and Sinjab "continued to help patients until her very last day (at work) on March 6." The following day she was hospitalized for Covid-19, which she had fought against since the beginning of the pandemic. She died on the morning of April 9 in the intensive care unit of the Treviso hospital. She was 62 years old.

Sinjab's surgery was in the Mira zone. Several members of her immediate family had chosen the same profession: her husband Omar El-Mazloum was a well-known pediatrician who died at age 60 in 2007 after a heart attack, and her two children also entered the medical field. Her son Rafi is a medical examiner and was previously coordinator of the young doctors and dentists committee, while her daughter specialized in pediatrics.

'Doctor all her life to the very end'

Born and raised in al-Tall in southern Syria, Sinjab left her home country to study medicine in Italy. She got her degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1994 at the University of Padua and then specialized in General Medicine prior to setting up a surgery in Borbiago, where she was said to have been dearly loved by her patients.

The head of the Venice medical association, Giovanni Leone, said that her son Rafi "told me that his mother had worked up until the day prior to when she had to be hospitalized and that even in the intensive care unit she showed interest in how her patients were doing, thinking that she would soon return to work. Then her condition grew worse." Leone said she was a "doctor to the very end. An example to be followed."