India’s hospital systems buckle under Covid surge

Hospitals in India launched desperate appeals for oxygen on Friday as the nation’s Covid crisis spiralled.   

Covid-19 surges are placing a major strain on healthcare systems across the world, with no end in sight to a pandemic that has killed more than three million people.   

Governments are desperate to accelerate vaccine campaigns to help their countries --and economies-- recover from the virus, and the EU said Friday it would have enough vaccines to inoculate 70 percent of adults in July.  The country on Friday reported more than 330,000 new infections and 2,000 deaths in a single day, as healthcare facilities sounded the alarm on oxygen supplies for patients on ventilator support.   

 “SOS -- less than an hour’s oxygen supplies at Max Smart Hospital & Max Hospital Saket,” one of the biggest private hospital chains in Delhi said on Twitter.   

 “Over 700 patients admitted, need immediate assistance.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set to hold at least three crisis meetings to discuss oxygen supplies and the availability of critical medicines.   

Compounding the misery, 13 Covid patients died in Mumbai when a fire broke out in their hospital -- the latest in a string of blazes at Indian healthcare facilities.   

Many parts of the country have now tightened restrictions, with the capital in lockdown and all non-essential services banned in Maharashtra. The northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to 240 million people, goes into a shutdown this weekend.  
-NEW DELHI, (AFP) 
April23, 2021