Hoosier doctors help India during surge in COVID-19 cases
A new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 was found in India last month, but it has yet to be determined whether this is behind the most recent surge. Author: Sarah Jones Updated: 6:56 AM EDT May 1, 2021
INDIANAPOLIS India, the second most populous country in the world, is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases unlike any it has witnessed over the last two years.
“Seeing those visuals coming from India is gut wrenching,” said Dr. Ajay Ponugoti.
The hospitalist has been treating COVID-19 patients at St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis since the start of the pandemic. He says, as a medical doctor, “the biggest challenge for me is to digest that human beings can die from lack of oxygen. Those are the visuals that are hitting us the hardest here, especially in the medical community, because we know if there were more resources, a lot of these people could have been saved.
“I get around 50 calls a day, somebody asking for beds, somebody asking for cylinders, somebody asking for drugs. We don t have anything available and patients are dying,” said Dr. Piush Girdar, a critical care physician.
Gagandeep Kaur manages the Mehfil Indian restaurant in San Francisco, but her mind is 12,000 miles away with friends and family in New Delhi.
“It’s like a heartbroken time for us,” she said. “If you talk to any of the Indian families or Indian friends we all want to see them we all want to help them but it’s like a very hard time.”
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COVID-19: Doctor at centre of India s coronavirus outbreak says next two weeks are going to be hell
India s hospitals are already full to bursting, but doctors in Delhi are warning there could be even worse to come.
Hard to imagine just how much worse it could get when the country s citizens are begging in the street for air; people are collapsing and dying on hospital doorsteps and administrators are saying oxygen is like gold right now.
But while the government was busy urging the country not to panic and international partners were organising aid flights transporting oxygen supplies, the doctors at the sharp end were telling us they re bracing themselves for a torrid fortnight ahead.