India's health structure crumbles in front of Corona crisis, media is raising questions

The second wave of Corona in India has made the condition of health services in other major cities including the capital Delhi miserable.

On April 27, there were 3,62,757 cases of infection. At the same time, 3,285 people died. For the first time during the epidemic, the official death toll has touched the figure of three thousand.

On Friday, the number of corona infected increased to 3,86,452 and 3498 people died. In this way, the number of infected is continuously increasing to more than three lakhs daily for the last nine days. And experts have feared that in the first week of May this number may increase to five lakhs.

Rapid infection

By 28 April, the number of active cases of corona in the country was close to 30 lakhs. This is the largest figure ever. During the first wave, the number of active cases had crossed 10 lakhs for only five days.

However, not all cases of infection require hospitalization. The municipal corporation of Mumbai, the country's financial capital and most populous, said that by April 27, four percent of the city's 70 thousand active cases had to be admitted to the ICU.

At the same time, 14 percent of the patients had to be kept on oxygenated beds. Meanwhile, in the capital Delhi, 4.8 percent of patients had to be admitted to the ICU.

Now, if we want to understand the condition of the whole country by taking the figure of four percent, then 1.2 lakh patients need ICU at this time. At the same time, in terms of 10 to 15 percent, the number of patients requiring oxygen has gone from 300,000 to 4,50,000.

Hospitals are filled with patients

Due to the rapidly increasing number of active cases, the need for ICU and oxygen beds is continuously increasing in India right now. In the last two weeks, news of coming out of such needs is continuously coming in the media from other major cities of the country. The news of lack of oxygen and beds in these cities, especially in Delhi, has made headlines.

On April 28, about 20 percent of the beds were empty in Mumbai and Bangalore, while in Delhi only eight percent of the beds were empty. This is when all the state governments have gradually increased the capacity of Covid-19 hospitals. Now many hospitals have been dedicated only to the treatment of patients suffering from the corona.

In Delhi, a month ago, the number of Covid-19 beds was 5,765. Only a quarter of them were bed-ridden patients. But on 27 April the number of such beds has been increased to 20,635. Even after this, 91 percent of these beds were full. The huge number of patients has put tremendous pressure on the facilities present in the hospital.

The pitiable condition of hospitals

There are many serious consequences of this sudden pressure on hospitals.

The biggest example of this has been the lack of oxygen in the hospitals of Delhi in the last week.

It was discussed very well in the media. Many hospitals also made emergency appeals on lack of oxygen.

Many such reports were found in the media that there are only a few hours of oxygen left in the hospital and due to this, the lives of many patients are at stake. However, on April 27, a report was told that there have been signs of improvement in the supply of oxygen.

People were seen standing in lines in front of small oxygen plants to fill the new cylinder or empty cylinder.

According to a report, on April 22, at least 25 Corona patients died due to lack of oxygen in a large hospital in Delhi, Sir Gangaram Hospital.

According to this report, eight people died due to a lack of oxygen in Delhi's neighboring state of Haryana on 25 April. Another report said that eight people died in a hospital in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, due to lack of oxygen.

Many reports were received about this that in the last one week, seriously ill patients have been in queues for recruitment in Delhi hospitals.

According to a report published in the Hindustan Times, patients were lined up for some of the ICU beds shown empty in the capital Delhi. But forced hospital management had to refuse to admit even critically ill patients. The patients and their relatives are wandering from one hospital to another for an extra bed.

In this report, quoting Dr. Sumit Ray of Holy Family Hospital in Delhi said that we had to stop the emergency service on Tuesday.

There is not even a place to sit there. At the same time, a doctor told the newspaper, "The wards are full." People are being given air from anesthesia machines, which are commonly used in surgery. Everywhere there are patients. Patients are sitting on stretchers, wheelchairs, and even on the floor. We are selecting patients and recruiting only those patients who are expected to survive.

The government was not ready in the opinion of the media

The country's newspapers said in editorial comments last week that the government was not ready to deal with the second wave.

The Times of India made its remarks on 25 April on the help of civil society to the needy. The newspaper wrote, "These stories of personal help are testifying to the failure of the government's capabilities."

In another editorial article, the same newspaper wrote, "When the pandemic is reviewed, the state and central governments will have to respond to lower spending on public health to increase the capacity of the health sector even during the pandemic."

At the same time, another editorial comment read, "The government has failed to stop the second wave and for this, it cannot run away from its responsibility. Although today we have a lot of work to do, tomorrow we will have to identify the defaulters and catch them. ''

Another editorial said that the second wave-exposed the lack of health infrastructure.

According to this, "All the basic needs that the groups empowered to fight Covid-19 a year ago, be it medicine, bed, oxygen or testing facilities, all fell short."

Hindustan Times said that governments ignored oxygen supply. "The present government also removed its eyes, which people are paying now."

The Hindu wrote in his editorial that India has learned a lot from the first wave of Corona in 2020. Even after this, a large amount of valuable time was lost for the expansion of facilities to meet the demands of the second wave.