#AceHealthReport – May.08: Since then NSW has had two consecutive days of no community transmission, while restrictions have limited gatherings at home and in indoor venues:
Flights from the state will be allowed to land in New Zealand from 9:59pm (local time) on Sunday, provided no new community cases are found.
New Zealand authorities will not allow anyone to enter the country who has been at any of the exposure sites, at the specified times announced by NSW Health, within the previous 14 days.
βAirlines and border officials will be asking people to declare whether they have been at one of the locations of interest,β a New Zealand government statement said.
βIf you have, you will not be able to travel from NSW, or any border in Australia, to New Zealand.β
New Zealand’s decision to halt the travel bubble with Australia’s most populous state was due to “several outstanding unknowns”, the country’s COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said.
“We weighed this up very carefully. It’s a finely balanced decision,” he said on Thursday.
“We do acknowledge that there’s the potential to disrupt people’s travel.”
Restrictions across Greater Sydney are still in effect, with masks compulsory on public transport and no more than 20 guests allowed in a home.
The restrictions will remain in place until 12:01am on Monday.
Quarantine-free travel to New Zealand from Australia was introduced in April, following the relative success of both countries containing COVID-19.
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#AceHealthReport – May.08: Registered nurse Jocelyn Hofman starts crying when she describes what it is like to work in aged care: It upsets me because I have dedicated my life to aged care, but my work is being devalued,” she says:
But the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) is concerned the government won’t fund the commission’s recommended mandated nursing ratios and skills mix.
Kindness & Loveβ€οΈ says its time to value our carers who give so much to so many daily we both speak from experience Amen
In Ms Hofman’s 34 years in the sector, she’s seen nurse-to-resident ratios plummet.
While it’s been an opportunity for many in the industry to be held to account, spare a thought for the workers who are still struggling to provide basic care to residents.
Ms Hofman is also noticing elderly people entering aged care older, sicker, frailer and with more complex medication regimes than ever before.
To cut costs, aged care providers have replaced many nursing staff with personal care assistants who are paid less and aren’t required to have a formal qualification.
βI am exhausted and I go home, and think: Have I done all the paper work that needs to be done? We donβt have proper breaks, because we are worried.β
Aged care nurse Jocely Hofman says nothing has changed in the sector since the Aged Care Royal Commission.(ABC News: John Gunn)
Ms Hofman, who is also on the council of the New South Wales nursing union, says with fewer nurses on staff, elderly residents can face delays in getting clinical care and end up in hospital.
“For residents in palliative care, what happens when they are in excruciating pain, and there is no registered nurse on the floor. Or when their urinary catheter gets blocked?”
The federal government is expected to provide a comprehensive response to the Aged Care Royal Commission’s damning report in the federal budget.
Ms Hofman’s message to the government is simple: “It is time to stop dragging your feet.”
She says any new funding must be transparent and targeted at staffing.
“They should care, because this defines them as a nation. It could be you, it could be your mother or father.”
“How can inspire the aged care workforce of tomorrow if we don’t fix this now?”
‘It’s depressing, a continual fight’
Rebecca Woodfield says hardworking staff often stay at work late so elderly residents don’t miss out.(ABC News: Peter Drought )
Registered nurse and nursing union member Rebecca Woodfield has clocked up a quarter of a century working in aged care, and currently works as a manager.
Ms Woodfield says without dedicated aged care staff working extra hours unpaid, residents would not even get basic care.
“It is demoralising, I know I want to do so much more, I know the staff I work with want to do so much more,” she says.
“It’s depressing and a continual fight.”
Recently she was told about a facility where one personal care assistant was required to administer medication for 50 residents.
“There are so many issues with that,” she said.
She gets emotional when asked to reflect on why she continues to work in the industry under such difficult conditions β she stays because of the residents.
“These people have paid their taxes all their lives, just because they are ill and unable to care for themselves shouldn’t mean they lose out.
“I am passionate about this. It is the only holistic nursing out there, it is a great area to work in, we just need a bit of help.”
Care sectors ‘no different to roads and tunnels’
Economist Leonora Risse says helping female-dominated caring industries to thrive would boost the economy.
Economist Leonora Risse says caring sectors free up other workers to participate in the economy. (Supplied. )
She describes the federal government’s last budget as “blindingly high vis and hard hats” and is calling for more investment in what she calls caring infrastructure.
“Consider how these care sector services are no different to roads, bridges and tunnels. They support the rest of the economy to thrive,” she says.
“By investing more in those sectors, you are freeing up more workers to participate and apply those skills. These industries are enablers for all other workers across all other industries.”
She argues that equality won’t be achieved by making women be more like men.
“We can encourage women into higher paying male-dominated fields like STEM, or we can tackle why female-dominated fields are paid so much less and how to make these sector more attractive to men,” she says.
‘No time to just chat’
Nurse Adam Weaver started working in aged care because he wanted to make a difference. (ABC News: Brant Cumming. )
Enrolled nurse and ANMF work site representative Adam Weaver wanted to work in aged care because he wanted to make a difference in the lives of elderly Australians.
He’s worked in the sector for 18 years and has noticed a decline in care, staffing ratios, lifestyle and activities for residents.
“Imagine you’re 85 years old, and you wake at 7am, and you have 15 minutes to get ready and go to the shower and go to the toilet. Things are rushed and missed,” he says.
“There is no time to just chat. No time to be one-on-one with residents.”
As well as mandating staffing ratios, the ANMF also wants the government to fund 10-15 per cent wage increase for all aged care workers to better protect and retain quality staff.
“People don’t understand how hard it is. You have to physically do stuff for people, rolling, showering, cleaning people, you become very attached to these people as well,” Mr Weaver says.
He says every Australian should care about the state of aged care.
“This is our future, this is what people have to look forward to,” he says.
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#AceHealthReport – May.07: It is understood the first repatriation flight will leave Australia for India almost as soon as the ban is lifted on May 15 and will have the capacity to bring home around 200 passengers:
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to announce the details tomorrow, in what will come as a relief to the estimated 9,000 Australians stuck in the #COVID19 ravaged country:
All Australians returning from India will quarantine outside Darwin at the Howard Springs facility, which is expected to be nearly empty by next Saturday.
Around 900 Australians who have been listed as “vulnerable” by the Department of Foreign Affairs will be given priority. But they will need to return two negative COVID-19 tests before they are allowed to fly.
It is unclear whether commercial flights will also be able to restart, with one government source saying it would be a slow and steady process.
The government has come under sustained pressure for not only banning anyone in India from flying to Australia but making it a criminal offence to do so, punishable by hefty fines and imprisonment.
Earlier today, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke warned the repatriation process was “very complex” and would “take some time”.
“This second wave is very bad, the logistics in India are very difficult, people are living in remote towns and villages and to get them safely to an airport is a very difficult undertaking,” he said.
“These are the real, practical consequences. There are thousands of people, many dying on the streets in India. So it’s going to be very complex.”
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#AceHealthReport – May.05: It took the South Asian country just over four months to add 10 million cases, versus more than 10 months for its first 10 million.
#CoronavirusNewsDesk – INDIA: #COVID19 cases have crossed 20-million as experts warn of worse days to come as deaths rose 3,449 for a total toll of 222,408, health ministry data showed:
India has become the world’s second nation, after the United States, to pass the grim 20 million milestone for infections.
COVID-19 infections and deaths are mounting with alarming speed in India with no end in sight to the crisis.
A top expert has warned that the coming weeks in the country of nearly 1.4 billion people will be “horrible”.
The true figures are believed to be far higher β the undercount an apparent reflection of the troubles in the healthcare system.
The country has witnessed scenes of people dying outside overwhelmed hospitals and funeral pyres lighting up the night sky.
Infections have surged in India since February in a disastrous turn blamed on more contagious variants of the virus as well as government decisions to allow massive crowds to gather for Hindu religious festivals and political rallies before state elections.
India’s official average of newly confirmed cases per day has soared from over 65,000 on April 1 to about 370,000.(Reuters: Danish Siddiqui)
India’s top health official, Rajesh Bhushan, refused to speculate last month as to why authorities were not better prepared. Many people are dying because of shortages of bottled oxygen and hospital beds or because they cannot get a COVID-19 test.
India’s official average of newly confirmed cases per day has soared from over 65,000 on April 1 to about 370,000, and deaths per day have officially gone from over 300 to more than 3,000.
Dr Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health in the US, said he was concerned that Indian policymakers he had been in contact with believed things would improve in the next few days.
“I’ve been β¦ trying to say to them, `If everything goes very well, things will be horrible for the next several weeks. And it may be much longer,'” he said.
Dr Jha said the focus needed to be on “classic” public health measures: targeted shutdowns, more testing, universal mask-wearing and avoiding large gatherings.
“That is what’s going to break the back of this surge,” he said.
The death and infection figures are considered unreliable because testing is patchy and reporting incomplete.
For example, government guidelines ask Indian states to include suspected COVID-19 cases when recording deaths from the outbreak, but many do not do so.
‘Enough is enough’
The New Delhi High Court has announced it will start punishing government officials if supplies of oxygen allocated to hospitals are not delivered: β Enough is enough,” it said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party has countered criticism by pointing out the underfunding of health care has been chronic.
But this was all the more reason for authorities to use the several months when cases in India declined to shore up the system, said Dr Vineeta Bal, of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.
“Only a patchwork improvement would’ve been possible,” she said.
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#AceHealthReport – May.03: Indiaβs fight against a surge in coronavirus cases will be reinforced by new UK Government support announced by the Prime Minister today. 1,000 ventilators will be sent from the UKβs surplus supply to Indian hospitals to help the most severe #Covid19 cases:
Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street says UK sends further life-saving support to India: βTo help its fight against a surge in #COVID19 cases will be reinforced by new UK Government support announced today. 1,000 ventilators will be sent from the UKβs surplus supply to Indian hospitals to help the most severe casesβ
The UK will send 1,000 more ventilators for use in Indiaβs hospitals
The Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Adviser and NHS staff have given help and advice to their Indian counterparts
Fresh assistance follows medical relief sent by the Government last week and a surge in support from the British people to India
On Tuesday the Prime Minister will hold a virtual meeting with Indian Prime Minister Modi to discuss deepening cooperation between the UK and India
This is in addition to 200 ventilators, 495 oxygen concentrators and 3 oxygen generation units the UK announced we were sending to India last week.
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance have also spoken to their Indian counterparts to provide advice, insight and expertise to the Indian healthcare system as it deals with the worldβs worse surge in Covid levels.
NHS England is also establishing a clinical advisory group led by Chief People Officer Prerana Issar to support Indiaβs Covid response. The group will work with Indian institutions such as the All India Institute of Medical Services to share experience on managing Covid outbreaks. The group will include researchers in public and global health, alongside nursing and other health professionals who have experience of the Indian healthcare system.
In a powerful demonstration of what Indian Prime Minister Modi has called the βliving bridgeβ between our countries, over the last week British people have come to the support of India in huge numbers. Businesses, civil society and the wider public have responded to appeals for help and launched funding drives.
This includes the British Asian Trustβs βOxygen for Indiaβ emergency appeal, which is raising funds for oxygen concentrators to be rapidly deployed to Indian hospitals. The BAT appeal, which has been personally backed by the Prince of Wales, has raised more than Β£1.5m in the last week.
Virgin Atlantic also flew 200 boxes of oxygen concentrators to Delhi on Saturday, after partnering with Khalsa Aid. Further cargo space will be given free of charge on 6 flights to India in the next week, in association with The Red Cross.
India has also provided support to the UK throughout the coronavirus pandemic. As the βpharmacy of the worldβ the country has kept its borders open to supply the UK with vital medicine and PPE β exporting over 11 million face masks and 3 million packets of paracetamol over the course of 2020.
On Tuesday the Prime Minister will hold a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Modi to agree a huge range of commitments to deepen cooperation between the UK and India, including on fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
The terrible images we have seen in India in recent weeks are all the more powerful because of the close and enduring connection between the people of the UK and India.
I am deeply moved by the surge of support the British people have provided to the people of India and am pleased the UK Government has been able to play our part in providing life-saving assistance.
The UK will always be there for India in its time of need.
The world is safer and stronger because of work between the UK and India. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, for example, was developed in the UK, is currently being produced in the millions by Indiaβs Serum Institute and will be distributed to the world at cost through COVAX.
It is those shared values of openness and the pursuit of knowledge and scientific advancement for the betterment of our societies that lie at the heart of the relationship between the UK and India. During his call with Prime Minister Modi the Prime Minister will emphasise the importance of working with India to promote our shared values.
India is the largest democracy in the world, a fellow Commonwealth country and in June Prime Minister Modi will travel to the UK to attend the G7 Summit as a guest β one of four world leaders invited to join the Summit of leading democracies.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:
This support will help urgently meet some of Indiaβs acute needs, particularly oxygen for patients. We are determined to help our Indian friends in their hour of need.
We need to all work together to defeat Covid-19. No one is safe until we are all safe.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock said:
As a close friend of India, we have all felt the harrowing scenes and are determined to do all we can. Only a few months ago we felt the pressure of the pandemic here in the UK. This virus attacks all of us and in the battle against coronavirus, weβre all on the same side.
This additional support will provide more capacity and expertise to help save lives and support Indiaβs healthcare system. We will continue to work closely with the Indian government during this immensely challenging time.
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#AceHealthReport – May.02: India’s second wave of #COVID19 has topped 400,000 new daily cases for the first time, making it the first country in the world to reach the figure:
A lockdown of Delhi, home to almost 19 million people, has been extended by another week as a result of the continuing rise in cases.
This is the second time the lockdown, originally planned for just six days, has been extended.
The lockdown, which began on April 19, will continue until at least May 10, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.
“The intensity, with which the cases are rising made it imperative to impose this lockdown. This was the last resort against the rising cases in Delhi and it had become essential to do it. But the COVID surge refuses to come down,” Mr Kejriwal said in a briefing.
The world’s biggest producer of COVID-19 vaccines has a limited number of shots available, worsening a surge in infections that has overwhelmed hospitals and morgues while families scramble for scarce medicines and oxygen.
The world has responded with aid β India received 150,000 Sputnik-V vaccine doses from Russia on Saturday, while medical supplies including desperately needed oxygen canisters were sent by the US.
India receives supplies of oxygen and vaccine amid a COVID-19 crisis.
Further supplies are already en route from Germany and France.
Australia has also pledged to donate supplies.
India’s West Bengal state was unable to start a vaccination drive for adults aged between 18 and 45 on Saturday due to shortage of shots. The state urged the federal government to provide more supplies, a senior state health official said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak with media.
The chief minister of the hard-hit state of Delhi implored people not to queue at vaccination centres, promising more vaccines would arrive “tomorrow or the day after”.
Rising infections numbers have put hospitals under pressure.(AP)
India’s eastern Odisha state said it had received a consignment of 150,000 shots but would only allow a few people to get shots due to lockdown restrictions preventing movement.
In Ahmedabad, the main commercial city in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, hundreds of people were seen queuing.
“I took my first dose and I am appealing to all students to take the vaccine and be safe,” said Raj Shah, a 27-year-old student in Ahmedabad.
COVID-19 patients unable to access medical care
Desperate coronavirus patients, meanwhile, continued to arrive at hospitals despite a shortage of beds.
Gasping for air, 62-year-old Vijay Gupta was turned away by Holy Family hospital, a non-profit private facility in the south east of India’s capital as all of its 385 beds being full.
Hospital beds are hard to come by in India with COVID-19 patients forced to move hospital to hospital to find one.(AP)
Waiting outside the hospital his family and friends debated what to do try next.
“We have been roaming around since 6:00am looking for a bed,” said Mr Gupta’s friend Rajkumar Khandelwal. “Where shall we go?”
Scientists warned the goverment about more contagious COVID-19 variants, but it did not take action to prevent a rise in infections.(AP)
A fire in a hospital about 190 kilometres south of Ahmedabad killed 16 coronavirus patients and two staff, the latest in a series of deadly accidents at hospitals.
Mr Modi offered his condolences to the families of the victims on Twitter, hours after he posted pictures of himself praying at a Sikh temple in capital New Delhi.
Reuters
#AceHealthDesk report β¦Published: May.02: 2021:
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#AceHealthReport – May.01: The acute shortage of oxygen in India underlines the severity of the coronavirus crisis ravaging the worldβs second most populous country. Fragile supply chains have failed to keep pace with surging demand, piling pressure on health systems, crematoriums and the federal government:
#CoronavirusNewsDesk – INDIA: How Saudi oxygen will save lives in #COVID19 ravaged India with Images of the first consignment of cryogenic tanks and medical-grade oxygen cylinders destined for an Indian port prompted an outpouring of gratitude and relief on Indian social mediaβ
India has recorded almost 18.7 million COVID-19 cases β second only to the US β and more than 207,000 fatalities to date. Under the circumstances, the Saudi oxygen shipment materialized not a moment too soon.
Trade and cultural links between ancient India and the Arab region go back almost 5,000 years. Formal diplomatic relations between New Delhi and Riyadh were established soon after India gained independence in 1947. Today Saudi Arabia is one of the largest suppliers of oil to India as well as one of its top trading partners.
The bilateral relationship reached new heights in February 2019 when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman paid a visit to New Delhi. The two sides signed investment deals worth $100 billion in the fields of energy, refining, petrochemical, infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing. A proposed Strategic Partnership Council came to fruition in October that year.
Since last year, the pandemic has converted relations between India and Saudi Arabia into a classic example of βa friend in need is a friend indeed.β As the worldβs largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India (SII), a Pune-based biotechnology and pharmaceuticals company, has so far supplied Saudi Arabia with 3 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot.
But now India itself has appealed to friendly nations to make up for the massive shortfall of medical supplies. They have responded by sending liquid oxygen, oxygen concentrators and cryogenic oxygen tanks, diagnostic test kits, ventilators and personal protective equipment. Additionally, the US has βidentified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield (Oxford-AstraZeneca) vaccine.β
As of this week, Gujarat alone was recording at least 100 deaths and about 15,000 new COVID-19 cases every day. The situation in Prime Minister Narendra Modiβs home state is now so precarious that hospitals are forced to turn patients away, unable to offer beds or sufficient oxygen.
To alleviate the pressure on hospitals, Gujaratβs mosques have established their own COVID-19 wards, fitted out with oxygen tanks donated by regional allies to help people in acute respiratory distress. The Darul Uloom Mosque in the city of Vadodara has capacity for more than 1,000 beds, but is having to limit its patient intake owing to the stateβs severe shortage of oxygen.
βWe are running just 142 beds, out of which only 120 beds have oxygen fittings,β Ashfaq Malek Tandalja, a member of Darul Uloomβs managing committee, told Arab News. βIn the first wave of COVID-19, we were running a 1,000-bed facility, but this time we are not doing so because of the lack of oxygen in the state.β
Tandalja added: βWith oxygen coming from Saudi Arabia and other countries, we are able to think of expanding the facilities. And in the coming days we would like to do that, because people need more beds.
βSaudi Arabia has responded to the crisis India is facing and is helping us with oxygen. This will save many lives and families.β
India has taken delivery of about 80 metric tons of oxygen from Saudi Arabia to help alleviate its acute shortage of the emergency gas amid a deadly COVID-19 wave. (Supplied)
On Wednesday, Indian authorities reported a daily record of more than 360,000 new COVID-19 cases and around 3,050 deaths nationwide β although many believe the true figure is much higher.
The rate of new cases has accelerated in recent weeks as the densely populated nation of 1.3 billion people grapples with a far more aggressive second wave. The capital New Delhi, which went into strict lockdown a week ago, is among the worst affected, with an infection rate of roughly 36 percent.
Last week, at least 50 critically ill patients died in two of the cityβs hospitals due to oxygen shortages. Mahendra Chouhan lost his wife on Sunday as he searched for oxygen or a hospital bed. βI ran from pillar to post to find oxygen. But by the time I got it, my wife had collapsed,β he told Arab News.
βSaudi Arabiaβs oxygen will save so many lives. The government needs support from foreign countries to survive the crisis.β
Family members and relatives carry the body of a victim who died of the Covid-19 coronavirus amid burning pyres of other victims at a cremation ground in New Delhi. (AFP)
Shortages are largely the result of logistical challenges and bureaucratic mismanagement, with supplies failing to reach areas most in need.
Although India is a significant oxygen producer, turning out roughly 7,000 metric tons a day, hospitals typically rely on trucks that travel long distances to replenish their stocks.
To make matters worse, another virus variation has emerged on the subcontinent with a so-called double mutation, raising doubts about the future effectiveness of Indiaβs already sluggish vaccine rollout.
Even before the pandemic hit, Indiaβs healthcare infrastructure was in no shape to meet demands of this magnitude. Now, the public health system has all but collapsed in many states.
βIn Gujarat, the situation is really scary and there is chaos all around,β Dr. Mona Desai, president of Ahmedabad Medical Association, told Arab News. βHospital beds and oxygen are in short supply, leading to the loss of many precious lives.β
Patients breath with the help of oxygen masks inside a banquet hall temporarily converted into a Covid-19 coronavirus ward in New Delhi on April 27, 2021. (AFP)
Hospitals in Ahmedabad, home to 5.5 million people, are buckling under a record surge of coronavirus cases. βBesides the lack of beds, the city is also gasping for oxygen,β Desai said.
βSaudi Arabiaβs gesture will help in saving many lives. This support is coming at a time when India is reeling under a severe oxygen crisis.β
On April 25, Saudi Arabia sent the first shipment of four ISO cryogenic tanks from Dammam to the port of Mundra in Gujarat. The Saudi supply was sent in cooperation with Indian conglomerate Adani Group and British chemical multinational Linde.
Oxygen tanks are loaded in Saudi Arabia’s eastern port city of Dammam onto a ship bound for Gujarat, India on April 24, 2021. (Indian Embassy photo via Twitter)
βThe Embassy of India is proud to partner with Adani Group and Linde in shipping the much-needed 80 metric tons of liquid oxygen to India,β New Delhiβs diplomatic mission to Riyadh said via Twitter on Sunday, thanking the Kingdomβs Ministry of Health βfor all its help, support and cooperation.β
Just two days earlier, India had launched its βoxygen maitriβ or βoxygen friendshipβ campaign in an appeal to neighbors and allies to help it procure more of the lifesaving gas.
On April 23, Indiaβs home ministry said it was in talks to buy high-capacity oxygen-carrying tanks. The following day, the Indian Air Force brought four cryogenic tanks from Singapore.
A Covid-19 coronavirus patient breathes with the help of oxygen provided by a Gurdwara, a place of worship for Sikhs, under a tent installed along a roadside in Ghaziabad on April 28, 2021. (AFP)
βAt a time when the whole country is facing acute oxygen shortages, leading to the deaths of hundreds of people, Saudi help is laudable,β Dr. Harijit Singh Bhatti, president of the New Delhi-based Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum, told Arab News.
βWhat is important now is to save as many lives as possible. The domestic supply of oxygen is being augmented. But before that, foreign support is crucial.β
There is little doubt that when the worst is over, India-Saudi relations will emerge as a friendship tested by time and circumstance.
Anil Wadhwa, a former diplomat and a senior fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation, a public policy think tank in New Delhi, said Riyadhβs gesture during this time of crisis βwill create a more favorable impression of the Kingdomβ in India.
βThe Saudi governmentβs help is symbolic because it represents the readiness of the Gulf and Arab world to come to Indiaβs aid in times of need.β
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INDIA: Covid-19 in India: Patients struggle at home as hospitals choke according to BBC IndiaAs hospitals in Delhi and many other cities run out of beds, people have been 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 cylinders and concentrators have skyrocketed and questionable drugs are now proliferating God Bless & πβs for those suffering at this time says Kindness & Loveβ€οΈ Amen
1 hour ago
By Vikas Pandey BBC News, Delhi’A person cannot even die peacefully in Delhi’
Anshu Priya could not get a hospital bed in Delhi or its suburb of Noida for her father-in-law and as his condition continued to deteriorate. She spent most of Sunday looking for an oxygen cylinder bt her search as futile.
So she finally turned to the black market. She paid a hefty amount – 50,000 rupees ($670; Β£480) – to procure a cylinder that normally costs 6,000 rupees. With her mother-in-law also struggling to breathe, Anshu knew she may not be able to find or afford another cylinder on the black market.
This is a familiar story not just in Delhi but also in Noida, Lucknow, Allahabad, Indore and so many other cities where families are desperately cobbling together makeshift arrangements at home.
But most of India’s population cannot afford to do this. There are already several reports of people dying at the doorsteps of hospitals because they couldn’t afford to buy essential drugs and oxygen on the black market.
The BBC called several oxygen cylinder suppliers and most of them asked for at least 10 times more than the normal price.
The situation is particularly dire in Delhi where there are no ICU beds left. Families of those who can afford it are hiring nurses and consulting doctors remotely to keep their loved ones breathing.
But the struggles are huge from getting blood tests done to getting a CT scan or x-ray.
Labs are overrun and it’s taking up to three days for test results to come back. This is making it harder for treating doctors to assess the progression of the disease. CT scans are also used by doctors to asses the condition of the patient but it’s taking days to get an appointment.
Doctors say that these delays are putting many patients at risk. RT-PCR tests are also taking days. I know several sick patients who found a bed but couldn’t get admitted as they didn’t have a positive Covid report.
Anuj Tiwari hired a nurse to assist in the treatment of his brother at home after he was refused admission in many hospitals.
Some said they didn’t have any free beds and others said they were not taking new patients due to continuing uncertainty over the supply of oxygen. A number of patients have died in Delhi due to a lack of oxygen supply. The city’s hospitals are desperate and some have been issuing daily warnings, saying they are left with just a few hours of oxygen. Then the government swings into action and tankers are sent, which is often enough to run the hospital for a day.
A doctor in Delhi said that was how hospitals were working and “there are real fears now that a big tragedy may happen”.
Given the scenario at hospitals, Mr Tiwari paid a hefty amount to procure a concentrator – which can extract oxygen from the air – keep his brother breathing. The doctor also asked him to arrange the anti-viral drug remdesivir, which has been given emergency-use approval in India and is being prescribed widely by doctors. The benefits of the drug – which was originally developed to treat Ebola – are still being debated across the world.
Mr Tiwari couldn’t find the drug in any medicine shop and eventually turned to the black market. His brother’s condition continues to be critical and the treating doctor says he may soon need a hospital where remdesvir could be administered.
Sumit KumarIndians are waiting for hours to cremate the deceased as cases surge
“There are no beds. What will I do? I can’t even take him anywhere else as I have already spent so much money and don’t have much left,” he said.
He added that “the desperate battle to save Covid patients has shifted from hospitals to home”, and even that is proving to be a daunting task as “we don’t have easy access to oxygen”.
Remdesivir is in such short supply that families of the patients who are being treated at home are rushing to procure it. They want to have the drug in case the patient is required to go to hospital and may need the drug.
The BBC spoke to several dealers on the black market who said the supply was tight and that was why they were charging such high prices. The government has allowed seven firms to manufacture remdesvir in India and they have been told to ramp up production.
But several promises of adequate supply from the government have failed to show any result on the ground. Epidemiologist Dr Lalit Kant says the decision to ramp up production was taken too late and the government should have been prepared for the second wave.
“But somehow the drug is available in the black market, so there is some leakage in the supply system which the regulators haven’t been able to plug,” he says.
Doctors are prescribing the drug mostly to patients who are severely sick. But it has disappeared from the market. Cipla, the Indian company that imports and sells the drug, has been struggling to meet the rising demand.
It usually costs around 32,480 rupees for a vial of 400mg. But Kamal Kumar paid 250,000 rupees to buy one dose for his father. He said the price was “mind boggling” but he had no other option but to pay.
Public health expert Anant Bhan says the government should have procured the drug in huge quantities as not many can afford to buy it in the black market.
“This shows that there was no planning. The government failed to anticipate the wave and plan for it,” he says.
“People have been left to their own fate.”
Cheating
Fake remdesivir has also appeared in the black market. When the BBC questioned a dealer that the drug he was offering seemed fake as the firm manufacturing it wasn’t on the list of the companies licensed to produce it in India, he replied that it was “100% original”.
The packaging was also full of spelling errors. But he shrugged and asked me to get it tested in any laboratory. The firm also has no presence on the internet.
But such is the desperation that people are willing to buy even questionable drugs. And some have been cheated as well. People are constantly sharing phone numbers of suppliers who can provide anything from oxygen to medicines. But not all of these numbers are verified.
An IT worker, who did not want to be named, said that he desperately needed to buy an oxygen cylinder and remdesivir, and he got a lead from Twitter. When he contacted the person, he was told to deposit 10,000 rupees as advance payment.
“The moment I sent the money, the person blocked my number,” he said.
Desperation is driving people to trust anything in the hour of need and that seems to be fuelling the black market. Several state governments have promised to crack down on black marketing of remdesivir and some arrests have also been made. But the black market seems unfazed.
Mr Tiwari says people like him don’t have any choice but to pay more.
“It seems you can’t get treated in hospitals, and now you can’t save your loved ones even at home.”
βAmid Covid surge, Karnataka announces 14-day lockdown from Tuesday nightβ
According to Department of Health and Family Welfare Services, Karnataka on Sunday recorded 143 more fatalities across the state (77 in Bengaluru Urban alone) due to Covid-19, with which the cumulative death toll rose to 14,426.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday announced a 14-day lockdown that will come into force in the state from 9 pm tomorrow to curb the spread of Covid-19.
No public transport will be allowed to ply on the roads, but shops selling essential commodities will remain open from 6 am to 10 am every day, Yediyurappa said.
βFrom tomorrow night for 14 days, there will be a full shut down in the whole state,β Yediyurappa said, after chairing a cabinet meeting. The CM said that industries, other than the garment sector, could function during the shutdown. βBars and restaurants can provide takeaway service. Detailed orders will be issued later in the day,β the chief minister said.
Yediyurappa indicated that inter-state and intra-state travel, other than movement of goods and cargo, will not be permitted during the shutdown. The government will seek postponement of all polls in the state for six months, he said.
However, people wanting to be vaccinated will be allowed to get their vaccinations, he said.
The Chief Minister also announced free Covid vaccine for all those between 18-44 years of age in the state. Last Thursday, BS Yediyurappa approved the purchase of one crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines at a cost of Rs 400 crore.
Karnataka has already been under a semi-lockdown state over the past five days with hotels, restaurants, gyms, bars, clubs not allowed to have customers. The city of Bengaluru has been under a night curfew and a weekend curfew since April 19.
Since the Covid cases were increasing in Karnataka and Bengaluru city, few members of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which held a meeting on April 24, had advised the government to impose a two-week lockdown.
According to Department of Health and Family Welfare Services, Karnataka on Sunday recorded 143 more fatalities across the state(77 in Bengaluru Urban alone) due to Covid-19, with which the cumulative death toll rose to 14,426.
The state reported 34,804 new infections as the active caseload spiked to 2,62,162. With 20,733 new cases, the number of active cases in Bengaluru Urban alone is at 1.8 lakh.
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