Insurance sought for Indian priests, nuns after Covid deaths
Catholic leaders say medical expenses incur a huge financial drain on poor dioceses and religious communities
Updated: May 24, 2021 07:25 AM GMT
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Family members and relatives wearing protective gear prepare a funeral pyre to cremate a Covid-19 victim at a crematorium in New Delhi on May 24 as India passed more than 300,000 deaths from the pandemic. (Photo: AFP)
Compulsory health insurance cover for Catholic priests and nuns in India is essential after more than 170 Catholic priests and 120 nuns died of Covid-19 in just one and a half months, say church officials.
Hundreds of priests and nuns have been infected with the virus and many have had to be admitted to hospital for treatment.
Church cares for pandemic-hit poor in eastern India
Regardless of ethnicity or faith, the Archdiocese of Ranchi is feeding the disadvantaged
A free lunch distribution stall run by the Archdiocese of Ranchi outside the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Jharkhand s state capital Ranchi. (Photo supplied)
An archdiocese in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand has launched a free lunch service for relatives of Covid-19 patients hospitalized in the state capital’s biggest hospital.
The Archdiocese of Ranchi started the humanitarian initiative on May 4 outside the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS). More than 300 people receive a free lunch every day and the number will gradually increase in size, Auxiliary Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas of Ranchi told UCA News on May 5.
Catholic leaders urge India to deploy military to help with pandemic On: 4/27/2021, By , In: World .A health care worker wearing personal protective equipment walks past the bodies of COVID-19 victims prepared for a mass cremation at a crematorium in New Delhi April 26, 2021. (CNS photo/Adnan Abidi, Reuters) .Health workers wearing personal protective equipment carry wood to prepare for a mass cremation of COVID-19 victims at a crematorium in New Delhi April 26, 2021. (CNS photo/Adnan Abidi, Reuters) .A man runs past flames during a mass cremation of COVID-19 victims at a crematorium in New Delhi April 26, 2021. (CNS photo/Adnan Abidi, Reuters)
Rome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2021 / 13:00 pm (CNA).
There are seven priests currently hospitalized with COVID-19 from the archdiocese of Ranchi in one of the states in India with some of the poorest medical infrastructure in the country, according to a local bishop.
Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese located in Jharkhand state, took each of the priests to the hospital because there were no ambulances available.
He held back tears as he described the dire health situation in his diocese in an interview with Colm Flynn of EWTN News.
“I have seven priests in hospital right now, and those are the lucky ones who found a hospital bed. I have another seven seminarians who are sick, lying in their beds in a house close to the hospital. I took them to a house for the aging because there was no place in the hospital,” Mascarenhas said.