NEW DELHI – Breathing air, two men wearing oxygen masks share a bed in a government hospital in the Indian capital, New Delhi, victims of the growing crisis in COVID-19.
Since fewer than 10,000 new daily cases were reported earlier this year, daily infections exceeded 200,000 on Thursday, according to official data, the world’s largest.
At Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP), one of the largest COVID facilities in India, with more than 1,500 beds, a stream of ambulances transported patients to the overflowing ward on Thursday.
Some also ended up in buses and three-wheeled buses.
The youngest patient was a newborn.
“We are certainly overburdened. We are already working at full capacity, “said the hospital’s medical director, Suresh Kumar.
Of the first 54 beds, the hospital now has over 300 patients with critical COVID-19. Even that is not enough.
Untied patients share beds, while the bodies of the recently deceased are outside the ward before being taken to the grave.
“Today we have 158 admissions in Lok Nayak alone,” Kumar said. Almost all were severe cases.
After imposing one of the strictest blockades in the world for almost three months last year, the Indian government relaxed almost all borders in early 2021, although many regions have now introduced localized restrictions.
Kumar of the LNJP said the new fast-spreading variants that avoid testing add to the burden, as does human behavior as the country reopened.
“People are not following COVID’s guidelines,” he said. “They are simply careless.”
Outside the hospital’s death, weeping relatives gathered in the hot sun to wait for the bodies of their loved ones to be released.
Prashant Mehra, 40, said he had to pay a broker for preferential treatment before he could admit his 90-year-old grandfather to the hospital. The hospital did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its comments.
Mehra said the effort made little difference in the end.
“He died after six or seven hours,” he said. “I already asked for the money back.”