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NEW DELHI: Doctors at one of the largest private COVID-19 facilities in the Indian capital say they are exhausted and facing staff shortages after nearly six months of tireless work.
India’s total cases of the new coronavirus surpassed 4.2 million on Monday (September 7), surpassing Brazil as the second most affected country after the United States.
The federal government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given states more freedom to reopen their economies after a 3-month shutdown that saw unemployment rise and growth contracted by a quarter.
After dipping fewer than 1,000 cases a day in the summer, New Delhi is now reporting more than 3,000 a day as the city opens, including restarting its metro system on Monday for the first time since March.
Hospitals in the capital are under additional pressure as patients from other states travel to the city in search of better medical care.
At Max Smart Super Specialty Hospital, the 32-bed COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) is full. Patients showing signs of recovery are quickly transferred to other rooms to release ventilators.
“Everybody is mentally exhausted,” said Ronak Mankodi, an ICU physician. “It requires continuous levels of attention and care.”
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Arun Dewan, the hospital’s director of intensive care, said one of the biggest challenges was resting his staff after grueling two-week rotations exposed to the virus.
“We only have a handful of people that we can rotate into,” he said.
Data from the Indian Medical Association, which represents 350,000 doctors across the country, shows that nearly 200 doctors have died from the coronavirus.
“Most of them are over 50 and have (pre-existing) conditions,” said RV Asokan, IMA secretary general. The death rate for its members was about 8 percent, he said, higher than that of the general population.
Family physicians, the first point of contact for patients, are at particular risk.
“Qualifying and physical distancing are challenging,” Asokan said. “It is also possible that your viral load is higher.”
A doctor from the Delhi ICU, Sunil Khandelwal, is on his fourth rotation. During his second, he contracted the virus and was admitted to the hospital.
“He was also scared like the patients,” he said.
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Although he did not require oxygen or a ventilator, he said the experience left him depressed, but that he had little time to rest before returning to work.
“We are exhausted from this, but the cases are increasing exponentially, so we are (working),” Khandelwal said. “We are doctors and we have to do this.”
The death toll of 71,642 in India compares with nearly 193,000 in the United States and 126,000 in Brazil.
India says its rising infections also reflect higher rates of testing and that high recovery rates show that its testing, tracking and treatment strategy is working.
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