Credit: Presidencia de la República Mexicana/Flickr Since India’s furious second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic broke in mid-April, with daily cases soon crossing 300,000 and deaths in such numbers that cremation and burial grounds became overwhelmed, citizens have been running from pillar to post for help. During the initial days the government and Prime Minister…
No Country for Her
Credit: No Name/Unsplash The woman sounded nervous on the phone. The helpline counsellor who took her call asked her to make some excuse and come out to meet her. It would be difficult, the woman replied; it was, after all, in the middle of a Covid-19 lockdown and her husband was home. She had sneaked onto…
Indian doctors protest herbal treatments being touted for COVID-19
As India struggles with one of the world’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks, thousands of doctors across the nation fighting to save patients amid shortages of oxygen, medicine, and vaccines wore black armbands on June 1 to call for the arrest of India’s most popular yoga televangelist. Baba Ramdev, founder of a traditional medicine empire, is peddling…
How India is scrambling to secure medical oxygen and save lives
NEW DELH – In a recent video post on Twitter, Dr. Gautam Singh, a cardiologist who runs the private Sri Ram Singh Hospital in east Delhi, lost his composure as he pleaded for help: “We have young patients who will die in a matter of two hours… Please send oxygen to us,” he begged on camera, clasping…
‘How Can Modi Be Forgiven?’ India’s COVID-19 Crisis May Be Turning the Middle Class Against the Prime Minister
On April 24 at 3:22 a.m., a doctor in Delhi’s Guru Tegh Bahadur hospital sent an urgent plea via Whatsapp to a colleague. She had just finished her shift at the COVID-19 ward in the hospital, where her mother was also undergoing treatment. A patient was in critical condition when she finished her shift. If…
‘Our Lives Don’t Matter.’ India’s Female Community Health Workers Say the Government Is Failing to Protect Them From COVID-19
Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers protest against alleged negligence of their workforce by the government on August 9, 2020 in New Delhi. During the protest, ASHA workers demanded payment for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying they have not been paid for the past few months. Mohd Zakir—Hindustan Times/Getty Images Lakshmi Kuril woke up…
I couldn’t find a hospital bed for my COVID-struck father in India. Days of frantic searching showed me how overwhelmed our health system is.
My heart ran cold as the doctor sent us a message on WhatsApp about my father’s deteriorating condition. “He has an inflammation in his lungs – given his age and medical history – you should be prepared to hospitalize him.” My father has Parkinson’s, a heart condition, weak lungs and high blood pressure. I kept…
How India’s second wave became the worst COVID-19 surge in the world
Relatives wearing personal protective equipment attend the funeral of a man who died from COVID-19 held at a crematorium in New Delhi, India, on April 21, 2021.PHOTOGRAPH BY ADRIAN ABIDI, REUTERS NEW DELHIDuring the past few weeks, Indian social media has been inundated with SOS messages: hospitals tweeting about dwindling oxygen supplies and physicians watching…