Montrealers mobilize to support Covid-stricken India
MONTREAL — Every day, Dr. Madhukar Pai’s cellphone buzzes incessantly with messages from friends and relatives. The thought of what they contain keeps him up until the middle of the night.
From his home in Montreal, the Mcgill University physician and epidemiologist has been coordinating efforts to help families ravaged by the coronavirus in India.
The messages range from desperate cries for help to questions about how to best manage oxygen levels from home when an infected person can’t access medical care.
“We’re monitoring people remotely, we’re trying to be their doctors, and we’re doing all these rescue efforts,” Pai said in an interview Monday. “I’m doing all this because I have to. It’s my other homeland, and it’s very traumatic.”
In recent weeks, a devastating wave of COVID-19 cases has overwhelmed India’s health-care system, with the country reporting global record-breaking numbers of infections each day.
The surge comes after the country had managed to reduce its daily infections, only to see the coronavirus variants — combined with a premature loosening of public health measures — create a second, more punishing wave.
On Monday, India reported 352,991 new infections and 2,812 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing its case total to more than 17 million. Experts believe these numbers have been greatly undercounted.
“It’s just dire straits in terms of the magnitude of the problem,” said Pai, whose in-laws live in India and recently contracted the virus.
“So many things need to happen, but we feel that instead of getting frustrated and angry, we can channel that energy by doing something constructive.”
In response to the crisis, Pai and other physicians and academics from around the world, including Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, have held virtual meetings each night to try to mobilize any help they can.
Under the banner India COVID SOS, the group’s efforts have included creating multi-language tip sheets explaining how to mitigate symptoms from home, planning to send oxygen concentrators abroad and raising funds for local organizations in the country.
During their nightly meetings, members also hear from Indian health-care workers who relay the horrific conditions
“Many people of Indian descent in Montreal are essential workers and working precariously, trying to make ends meet in Canada while also knowing what’s happening in India.” Dr. Ananya Tina Banerjee Assistant professor at Mcgill University’s School of Population and Global Health
they’re witnessing on the front lines.
They describe ambulances and families frantically driving from one hospital to another in search of available beds or oxygen, thousands of patients lining up outside facilities begging for treatment and overwhelmed crematoriums working around the clock.
For Dr. Ananya Tina Banerjee, an assistant professor at Mcgill University’s School of Population and Global Health involved in the effort, watching the situation unfold has been a harrowing experience.
Banerjee, who lives in Toronto, has family in India with whom she speaks each day. She encourages them to stay home and reminds them of the best ways to remain safe. They’ve so far managed to avoid contracting the virus, but it doesn’t lessen the dread she lives with.
“We are constantly on edge, fearing that we’ll get a phone call or text message any moment that they’ve come down with the virus,” Banerjee said on Monday.
“What’s really scary is that, if they are in a situation where they need immediate medical attention, there’s very little hope of them getting treatment.”
Given the hardships many are experiencing, Banerjee urged all Canadians to be compassionate toward people of Indian descent, noting most are likely living through similar fears about their relatives at the moment.
She also hopes the conversation surrounding the B.1.617 variant, first identified in India, won’t lead to an increase in racism similar to the spike seen at the outset of the pandemic.
“Many people of Indian descent in Montreal are essential workers and working precariously, trying to make ends meet in Canada while also knowing what’s happening in India,” she said.
“We’re experiencing a third wave that we’re vulnerable to in Canada and simultaneously battling a second wave with our loved ones back home.”
Pai and Banerjee agreed India’s missteps should serve as a cautionary tale for the rest of the world and are further evidence it will take a global effort to truly end the pandemic.
Canada, which has banned flights from India and Pakistan, has said it is ready to provide help, including possibly sending personal protective equipment. The federal government has yet to announce details.
The United States has announced it is preparing to send raw materials for vaccines, as well as test kits and ventilators. On Monday, it also said it will soon share up to 60 million doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine with other countries.
Pai believes similar co-operation will be needed to not only help India emerge from the second wave, but eventually help everyone move past the pandemic.