Low pay, 24-hour shifts, and severe shortages of staff and protective gear leave many doctors on the frontlines of India's brutal pandemic surge near breaking point and fearful for their lives
Resident doctors of All India Institute of Medical Sciences protest against Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev who allegedly ridiculed allopathy and made fun of 1,000 doctors who died treating Covid-19 patients.
The Indian Medical Association said more than 1,200 doctors have died of Covid since the start of the pandemic, including over 500 in the last two months. Many experts and media outlets say the true number of people dying from Covid-19 in India is being suppressed or undercounted by the government. "We are on the frontlines 24/7. We are exposed to a high virus load but we have to continue working against all odds as we have chosen this profession," Garg said.The pandemic has exposed structural weaknesses in India's healthcare system, particularly in the ill-equipped state-run hospitals.
India had just 0.8 doctors per 1,000 people in 2017 –– around the same level as Iraq, according to the World Bank. The two other countries worst-hit by the coronavirus, Brazil and the US, had 2.2 and 2.6 respectively.A report from before the pandemic by the US-based Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics, and Policy estimated that India needed 600,000 more doctors and two million extra nurses to meet its healthcare needs.
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