[More money alone won’t fix the health system in India — or elsewhere. Funds need to be strategically pooled and allocated for public objectives.This Vox article explores the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact in India, and features quotes from experts, including R4D’s Cheryl Cashin.]
NEW DELHI, India — Shiv Charan Lal Gupta, the medical director of Batra Hospital in New Delhi, has seen the devastation that follows an earthquake: dead bodies strewn about, patients maimed and in desperate need of care.
None of it prepared him for the day his hospital ran out of oxygen.
It was a Saturday: May 1, 2021. The massive second wave of COVID-19 cases in India, driven by the emerging delta variant, was peaking. At Gupta’s 500-bed private hospital, 80 percent of beds were reserved for Covid patients. Oxygen use was up to four times higher than normal, and the hospital’s reserves were dwindling. The local government had taken over the oxygen supply during the emergency, and Gupta pleaded with officials for more. Nurses tried to reassure panicking patients and their loved ones, who had learned from social media reports that the hospital was running out of air.
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Photo © Smita Sharma for Vox
