Hirra Azmat from Srinagar has had a hard time making her grandmother, Hajra Begum, understand social distancing. “She can’t come to terms with this new form of imprisonment called quarantine,” said 26-year-old Azmat. Begum, 80, gets so annoyed that she even threatens to retaliate. “Nani suffers from dementia and heart blockage,” said Azmat. “She missed her monthly follow-ups. Her body aches have increased and she needs a change of medication for symptomatic relief.”
Getting care for non-Covid-19 ailments has been a nightmare in India in the last three months. With the focus on tackling Covid-19, the rising burden of non-communicable diseases is being neglected. Those with acute and life-threatening problems like snake bites and pneumonia also find it difficult to get treated.
At All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the OPDs remain closed. “Even now, they are not planning to open the OPDs,” said a senior AIIMS doctor who wished to remain anonymous. “So, no new patient can come in. Even the old ones cannot come. If liquor shops and malls can be opened, why not OPDs?” Currently, only trauma and cancer surgeries are being done in the hospital, and chemotherapy and radiotherapy are not being offered to all patients, said the doctor. A 200-bed trauma centre in AIIMS has been converted into a Covid-19 hospital. “Nowhere in the world has a tertiary centre been converted into a Covid-19 hospital. It just shows how rotten our health care system is,” he said.
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