Impact of India’s Covid crisis felt here
Frustration at having to depend on others to help as people die
Basant Nailwal is heartbroken, having to rely on the generosity of his friends in India to help care for his father and older brother who both tested positive for Covid.
The Whanga¯ rei chef hails from the Indian capital, Delhi, where people are desperately searching for oxygen cylinders, medicines and intensive care unit beds while crematoriums have been forced to build makeshift funeral pyres, as the city runs out of space to cremate its dead.
India has recorded more than a million Covid-19 cases in just a few days. Ambulances, medical oxygen, intensive care unit (ICU) beds and lifesaving medicines are all in short supply.
At least two hospitals in Delhi have seen patients die after oxygen supplies ran out.
Nailwal’s father is in quarantine at home while his brother, a government worker who was first to test positive in his family, is still in a private hospital but their condition is improving.
One of his nieces also tested positive and another negative and both are being cared for by a relative.
“The situation is dire because my mother and sister-in-law who’s husband is admitted in hospital have both died away. Me and my wife are contacting people we know in Delhi and arranging Covid injection and other medication.
“These people are nurses and pharmacists and we’re relying on them for my father and brother’s recovery. What else can we do from here? The Government there let its guard down and people also didn’t follow the rules which has come to this.”
A student from India’s financial capital, Mumbai, living in Whangārei is worried about his father who is in a hospital with Covid.
The 65-year-old was rushed to a nearby hospital when his oxygen level started getting low and subsequent tests returned positive for Covid.
“He is feeling better and should be discharged this week. It’s difficult for me not being able to support my family in Mumbai. I last saw them in January last year,” the student, who did not want to be named, said.
The student said seeing the devastation in India was “very heartbreaking” as hospitals were forced to close, thousands of bodies were being cremated daily, and people were fighting to secure oxygen supplies.
“The Indian Government is unable to control the situation and the other problem is people are not listening to health advice around mass gatherings, wearing of masks, and social distancing,” he said.