Mayank Makhija / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Listen /
MUMBAI, India Outside an upscale Indian hospital last week, Baljeet Asthana put her phone on selfie mode, propped her eyeglasses on her head so she could stare directly into the camera, and hit record.
Through a white polka-dot mask, she described her family s ordeal: Her 82-year-old mother was inside the hospital struggling for her life, Asthana says. Her mother desperately needed
an intensive care unit
bed, but the hospital Fortis Hospital, one of the best-equipped private facilities in the capital New Delhi was full. Officials told the family to look for an ICU bed elsewhere.
Mayank Makhija/NurPhoto via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption Mayank Makhija/NurPhoto via Getty Images
In New Delhi on Monday, family members cremate the body of a person who died after contracting COVID-19. Mayank Makhija/NurPhoto via Getty Images
MUMBAI, India Outside an upscale Indian hospital last week, Baljeet Asthana put her phone on selfie mode, propped her eyeglasses on her head so she could stare directly into the camera, and hit record.
Through a white polka-dot mask, she described her family s ordeal: Her 82-year-old mother was inside the hospital struggling for her life, Asthana said. Her mother desperately needed
Share on Twitter
Rajni Gill woke up with a slight fever in mid-April, the first warning that she had COVID-19. Within a few days, she was breathless and nearly unconscious in a hospital.
Desperate to arrange plasma treatment for Dr Gill, a gynaecologist in the city of Noida, her family called doctors, friends, anyone they thought could help. Then her sister posted a plea on Facebook: “I am looking for a plasma donor for my sister who is hospitalised in Noida. She is B positive and is 43.”
The message, quickly amplified on Twitter, flashed across the phone of Srinivas B.V., an opposition politician in nearby Delhi, who was just then securing plasma for a college student. He deputised a volunteer donor to rush to the blood bank for Dr Gill.