India's worst Covid-19 crisis kills more than 500 frontline doctors

“These are very difficult times”

The latest statistics from the Indian Medical Association show that 515 doctors and medical staff in the country have died from the disease since the new outbreak began in early March 2021, including an orthopedic surgeon in his 60s and a very young obstetrician.

Patients at a hospital in Mumbai, India. Source: Washington Post

Hundreds of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and have been forced to take time off work to receive treatment since the number of cases spiked in April. The disease is wreaking havoc on the health system and straining the health workers in hospitals across India.

“While we need twice as much manpower, the number of staff has been reduced by half,” said Mayur Rathod, a doctor treating Covid-19 at Saroj Hospital in New Delhi.

In the first weeks of the second wave, the number of cases increased rapidly and there were more critical patients, said Mayur Rathod, at that time, nearly 100 doctors and 180 nurses of Saroj Hospital were vaccinated, but they still got sick. “It was a very difficult time.”

Other hospitals have also been overwhelmed by a surge in Covid-19 cases after a lull in the winter. The number of patients admitted to the hospital tripled in April to nearly 900, said Randeep Guleria, director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. “At one point, 100 patients were lying on the floor because of a lack of emergency beds.”

India recorded nearly 1.3 million new cases in the past week. But even as daily new cases have fallen since mid-May, deaths have hovered around 4,000 a day.

As the number of patients entering the hospital increases, hospitals are competing with each other for oxygen supplies and beds. Many families are turning to the Internet to ask for help, while others are taking their loved ones from hospital to hospital in the hope of finding a bed.

Medical staff exhausted and broken

More than hundreds of thousands of people have died from Covid-19 in India. Photo: Reuters

The severe shortage of doctors and nurses has forced hospitals to work hard to maintain operations and to keep the morale of medical staff high. Medical students have also been mobilized to work.

“It’s like a war with the first and second lines of defence,” said Dr Ajay Swaroop, head of the ENT department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi. “Earlier we had a rule that doctors above 60 or with underlying conditions should not be involved in treating Covid-19 patients, but when younger doctors got sick, the senior doctors had to take over.”

Since March 2021, 474 health workers at Ganga Ram have been infected, including 148 doctors and 186 nurses. Everyone is tired, scared and worried that their loved ones will be infected, said Ajay Swaroop. “The fight is not over yet, so we are always encouraging and motivating them.”

The battle against Covid-19 has been complicated by the emergence of new variants. Indian health officials said this week that the B.1.617 variant is spreading rapidly in the country and is present in areas with the highest number of new cases.

In the capital New Delhi, authorities say more than 100 doctors have died in the second wave. Many doctors have collapsed due to stress and long working hours, and more than 50% of those who have not been fully vaccinated have been infected, according to the New Delhi Medical Association.

Hospitals in other areas are also facing similar crises. Officials at Rajaji Hospital in Tamil Nadu state said one doctor had died and nearly 150 medical staff had been infected.

“The second wave was more severe than the first wave. We received a large number of patients but were not able to provide them with the best care due to lack of staff and medical equipment. We were mentally devastated during the pandemic and did not know when it would end,” said Senthil Kerupiah, Covid-19 treatment coordinator at Rajaji Hospital.

According to former Indian Medical Association President Rajan Sharma, the “worst affected” group are local health workers – those who come into contact with patients before they are diagnosed and are vulnerable to the virus.

“This is the first time we have seen an emergency situation reaching such a peak,” said Fameer C. Karutha, an official at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. “When colleagues fall ill, others are affected mentally and are under more stress. If they are unable to continue their work, the remaining ones will have to take care of more patients.”