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.
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)
The Tablet April 28, 2021
A woman who had been waiting overnight for her turn to get an oxygen cylinder refilled for her mother reacts after she was informed about her mother’s death in New Delhi April 28, 2021. (Photo: CNS/Adnan Abidi, Reuters)
NEW DELHI (CNS) As COVID-19 continues to claim thousands of lives daily in India, some Catholic leaders have called on the federal government to deploy the military to deal with the crisis before it worsens.
“The second wave of COVID-19 is surely a national calamity, and the entire nation is struggling as thousands are dying and hundreds of thousands are getting infected daily,” said Auxiliary Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas of Ranchi, former secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
Church leaders ask India to deploy military in Covid-19 crisis
Bishop Mascarenhas says the military has the resources and manpower to ease the national calamity
Patients breathe with the help of oxygen masks inside a banquet hall temporarily converted into a Covid-19 ward in New Delhi on April 27. (Photo: Money Sharma/AFP)
As Covid-19 continues to claim thousands of lives daily in India, Catholic leaders have called on the federal government to deploy the military to deal with the crisis before it worsens.
“The second wave of Covid-19 is surely a national calamity and the entire nation is struggling as thousands are dying and hundreds of thousands are getting infected daily,” said Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, former secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).
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