Covid Has Exposed Our Underfunded Healthcare System
The Sunday Standard|July 05, 2020
Vinayak Jadhav, an 80-year old retired banker, living in Chembur, Mumbai, began feeling breathless and ill on May 12. His son Viren, after preliminary examination, tried to admit him at the L H Hiranandani Hospital, in nearby Powai.
Gurbir Singh
Covid Has Exposed Our Underfunded Healthcare System

The swanky, private hospital refused, insisting on a Covid test. By the time Jadhav had one done, and had tested Covid-positive, the hospital said it had no beds. The patient was finally admitted in Seven Hills Hospital, a municipal facility; but by then Vinayak Jadhav’s condition had deteriorated sharply. On May 15, he was dead.

Sarfraz Ahmad, 35, a machinist and a resident of Etbhatti, Goregaon (East), Mumbai, fared worse. He died at home, suffering in his small slum hovel on May 30, waiting for the municipal corporation to take him to a hospital. The authorities had been notified and a health team had examined him, promising to return to pick him up on May 29. They never came.

These snapshots are a telling indictment of our collapsing healthcare system. While the central government sanctioned an emergency ₹15,000 crore for the battle against the Coronavirus, the poor healthcare infrastructure could hardly take the load of the massive flow of Covid patients.

Private healthcare fails

This story is from the July 05, 2020 edition of The Sunday Standard.

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This story is from the July 05, 2020 edition of The Sunday Standard.

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