A catastrophic second wave of COVID-19 has overwhelmed India’s already creaky health infrastructure, with hospitals running out of beds and oxygen, while critical drugs are being sold on a thriving black market.
Social media platforms have been flooded with SOS messages from people pleading for oxygen cylinders and hospital admissions as authorities struggled to cope with the scale of the crisis.
Amid the shortage, many places of worship, including mosques and gurdwaras, across India have come forward to help needy patients and a number of them have been turned into care centres for COVID patients.
Mufti Arif Falahi, head of a seminary in the western city of Baroda, has taken on a different job over the past weeks: saving lives.
Amid the chaos, Muslim organisations are coming forward to help people as daily cases rise exponentially
In the capital New Delhi, many clerics have announced that they are setting up isolation centers for patients. PHOTO: SOCIAL MEDIA
NEW DELHI:
With the number of daily coronavirus cases in India hitting record highs, Muslims in several parts of the country have turned mosques and madrassas (Islamic schools) into Covid-19 care facilities to aid patients.
India has been witnessing a staggering surge in infections of more than 300,000 daily since April 22, which has severely strained the country’s health system, leading to massive shortages of hospital beds, oxygen and critical drugs.