UTTAR PRADESH
For V.K. Srivastava, a 65-year-old resident of Lucknow, testing positive for Covid on April 16 was a shocker, but his nightmare really began when he tried to arrange for his treatment. Srivastava made frantic calls to the Covid control room in Lucknow but was unable to get himself registered for admission to any hospital. He passed away on April 17. Eminent historian Yogesh Praveen, 82, met a similar fate on April 12. After making calls and waiting for hours for an ambulance, his family took him by a private vehicle to Lucknow’s Balrampur Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. Srivastava and Praveen are among the scores of people bearing the brunt of the second wave of Covid that has seen the near collapse of healthcare in Lucknow and other parts of Uttar Pradesh. “We are trying day and night to get patients admitted. But beds need to be available,” says Sanjay Bhatnagar, chief medical officer (CMO), Lucknow. On April 19, Lucknow reported 22 Covid deaths and 5,897 new cases—it was the seventh consecutive day of over 5,000 new infections. The same day, a total of 28,287 new cases and 167 deaths were reported in Uttar Pradesh. The fast rising death toll has meant that even the last rites can be delayed for hours. For the past fortnight, 150-180 bodies have been arriving daily at the cremation ground at Bhaisa Kund and the Aishbagh graveyard in Lucknow. Adesh Agarwal, who performed his father’s funeral on April 20, says: “One has to wait for 3-5 hours. Funerals take place as per token numbers issued.” In Lucknow, 96 hospitals under the Ayushman Bharat scheme have now been authorised to treat Covid patients. But former Lucknow deputy CMO Ramesh Kumar Verma says patients need to first contact the Integrated Command and Control Centre and secure a referral for admission. “Instead, patients should be first granted admission in hospitals and information sent to the command centre later,” he says.
The demand for oxygen cylinders and drugs like remdesivir is leading to black marketeering. A resident of Lucknow’s Aminabad says a supplier asked for Rs 40,000 for an oxygen cylinder that otherwise costs Rs 6,000. According to C.M. Dubey of the Lucknow Chemists Association, “Covid medicines are either out of stock or in limited supply. Even vitamin C, zinc and paracetamol tablets are difficult to procure.”