Guards armed with rifles escort Dr. Kumar Gaurav as he makes the rounds at his hospital in India's eastern state of Bihar. The guards are there to protect him from the relatives of COVID-19 patients who barge into the wards to see their loved ones
The guards are there to protect him from the relatives of patients, including those suffering from COVID-19. The relatives keep barging into the wards, even the ICU, to stroke and feed their loved ones, often without wearing even the flimsiest of masks as barriers against the novel coronavirus.
Now, with some doctors struck down by the coronavirus and others refusing to work, he has been named the top official at the hospital, despite being one of its most junior consultants – and suffering from diabetes and hypertension, two risk factors for severe COVID-19.“A lot of my colleagues refused,” he says. “I had to take up the responsibility.”
Interviews with dozens of staff, patients and relatives at the hospital paint a picture of conditions that might shock those accustomed to images of hermetically sealed ICUs during the pandemic, with relatives not even allowed to touch their dying loved ones. Bihar is India’s third-most-populous state; if it were a country, it would be the 14th-most-populous in the world.
There have been around 87,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the state and 465 deaths – relatively small compared to other states. Given the low testing levels in the state, the numbers may be conservative. Still, Bihar’s healthcare system is already close to breaking point, unlike places such as New Delhi, which has had many more cases but enjoys better resources.
There are no beds or oxygen cylinders, and a dog and her litter rest on the discarded PPE kits in the corner of the coronavirus testing hall. The workers who push the trolleys carrying incoming patients to the general emergency wards don’t know the history of the new arrivals, most of whom haven’t been tested yet for the virus. Often wearing only gloves as protective gear, the workers wheel them inside, take their oxygen levels and leave them on trolleys in the corridor, where some people are treated until they can find a bed.
Kumar weeps as he describes his worst moment since he took over, when a friend of his father who needs blood transfusions at regular intervals asked for help. He thought about his extended family, whom he stopped visiting as the virus began to spread through the district. Who would run the hospital if they were admitted, if not him?
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