For India’s Medical Workers, Danger and ‘Heartbreaking Decisions’ – By Mujib Mashal and Sameer Yasir

India’s doctors and other medical responders find themselves short-handed and underfunded as they battle the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak. Beyond the physical danger they also face, they have been forced by the devastating size of the outbreak and the government’s mismanagement of the crisis into cruel routines of helplessness, making decisions day after day that could determine whether a patient lives or dies.

As beds fill up, they have to choose who among the throngs outside the hospital gates to allow inside for treatment. As the oxygen runs out, they have to choose who gets precious supplies. The emotional toll is mounting….

The country’s health care providers work amid an inadequate and deeply unequal medical system. According to the World Bank, India’s health care spending, public and out of pocket, totals about 3.5 percent of its gross domestic product, less than half of the global average…

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/world/asia/india-covid-doctors-medical-workers.html