Up to 75 waiting for every hospital bed

Dr P Carel Joseph, director of health at World Vision India, talks about a looming crisis in rural India

The second wave of Covid in India has been like nothing we’ve ever seen before. I’m an infectious diseases specialist. I’ve seen outbreaks of tuberculosis, HIV and other very dangerous diseases. The difference here is that we haven’t had time to prepare for the huge scale, the number and the seriousness of cases. It’s terrifying.

Hospital beds now have waiting lists. Each one has as many as 75 patients waiting for it. That has been the reality for the past two or three weeks. And there’s a massive shortage of oxygen. Beds with ventilators are a distant dream.

Only a small number of those who are infected can even get into a hospital. There’s no room. Even those who are very sick are waiting outside, they’re in ambulances, they’re on the street, or they’re dying at home. This second wave is different. People are getting sicker faster and once they reach hospital it’s too late. And it’s all about oxygen. It is not just the Covid that is killing people, it is a lack of the most basic essential, oxygen. That’s what is fuelling the crisis at this point.

Up until now, Covid has mainly affected India’s big cities. But I’m very frightened now about what could happen to the rural population. We’re starting to hear about more and more cases from villages in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana.

Once the demand for healthcare increases in those rural areas, that’s where the real crisis is. They don’t have the facilities to cope. They don’t have hospitals, doctors, nurses. They definitely don’t have oxygen supplies. In some places there are only traditional healers and sometimes there are health workers but they have no facilities. A serious crisis is only a matter of time.

And when that crisis does hit, World Vision will be there. Money that New Zealanders give to World Vision will go towards healthcare for the most vulnerable. There’s no question that your support will save lives.