A local cemetery working running on the ground collecting logs for funeral pyres, to perform the last rites for patients who died of Covid, on 29 April at the Ghazipur cremation ground in New Delhi. (Ghazipur Cremation Ground/File-Amit Sharma)
DEHRADUN, India/ABUJA, May 12 2021 (IPS) - The media is awash with the devastating news of deaths and sufferings due to COVID-19 coming out of India. What most media outlets overlook is the way Indian communities are rallying to save lives, reduce sufferings and stop the current wave of the pandemic.
As of May 11, 2021, India’s COVID-19 case total is about 23 million – with above 19 million recoveries, while total deaths are 250,025, according to the health ministry. All levels of hospitals and health facilities are full, after optimising their beds and staff, oxygen is almost not available, medicines are being bought in the black market and crematoriums have been inundated, forcing them to use nearby open spaces and parking lots to deal
The media is awash with the devastating news of deaths and sufferings due to COVID-19 coming out of India. What most media outlets overlook is the way Indian communities are rallying to save lives, re
Arushi Chaddha s father was dying. The oxygen supply of the hospital, like in hospitals across Delhi, was running on fumes. Most people knew, or knew of someone who had died. Her only hope was the kindness of strangers.
On April 23, at 11.30 am, Chaddha posted on Instagram: Lungs damaged. Oxygen level dropped to 70. Hospital is refusing to keep my father for more than a couple of hours due to the shortage of medical oxygen. My father will die.
In a short while, her DM was inundated with messages offering leads. One such message was from Suhail Shetty, who took down Chaddha s details and made several phone calls to his friends and relatives to get an oxygen concentrator. On April 25, at 2.20 am, he managed to arrange one.