Heart-rending stories of Covid-19 suffering, loss & grief. India is in the throes of one of it’s darkest moments as a catastrophic 2nd Covid-19 wave tears through it with snow-balling speed. B.1.617.2 is the name of it’s dangerously virulent variant, adding fuel to fire. Infections have cut across social, economic & geographic divides. Turmoil has been intensified by a crippling shortage of life-saving supplies like oxygen.
As hospitals run out of beds, people are forced to find ways to get treatment for sick patients at home. Many have turned to the black market where prices of essential medicines, oxygen concentrators have sky-rocketed. Questionable drugs are proliferating. People are dying at doorsteps of hospitals as they can’t afford to buy life-saving help, lack of emergency healthcare. Oxygen suppliers ask for 10 times more than the normal price. Struggles are huge for getting a blood test, CT scan, x-ray. Labs are overrun, days for test results. Makes it hard for doctors to assess the progression of disease. Unfortunately, many people have been left to their own fate, needing compassion & generosity.