Only 13% received COVID aid directly from hospitals, 55% of Indians used connections to get COVID Aid

COVID 19 second wave has come as a surprise to India, and certainly not a pleasing one. Till 22 of last month year, the death due to COVID came down to 199 per day, and by 22 of his month, the number of Deaths has been reported are as many as 2,263. India, by 22 August has touched the mark of 3 lakh cases per dayThe mutation of new strains has been deadly for the world and especially India. And amid this crisis situation, people are really getting short of oxygen supply, rushing to get a bed and medications for the COVID aid. But unfortunately, with the increasing number of cases, studies have found out that 55% of Indians used connections to get COVID Aid.

A survey by Local Circle accounting for 17,000 responses from 309 districts across the country suggests that 55% of Indians used connections to get COVID Aid.

As per the survey, more than 8,500 people replied to concerns about patient access to ICU beds. If 5% were unable to get an ICU bed at all, 55% said they had to use “connections or clout” to get a room, while the rest said they had to follow up with hospitals thoroughly, escalate their demands on social media, or reach out to government officials for assistance. Just 13% of those polled agreed.

Read More: Covid-19 Second Wave: The devastating return of the virus

Almost 9,000 people replied to questions about the difficulties in obtaining medications like Remdesivir and Tocilizumab to treat the infection. Around 13% were able to obtain these drugs without any issue from hospitals, yet up to 20% were unable to obtain them at all. To get such drugs, the others had to either overpay or bribe hospital employees. And While the government has clarified that Remdesivir can only be used in hospitals and should not be sold in local chemist shops, the study found that many hospitals, too, were unable to obtain Remdesivir and instead asked Covid19 patients’ families to obtain it.

Every day, every social media story is certainly concerning oxygen beds, cylinders, ventilators, and their availability. Friends to family members have been pulling out strings to find out people who are knowing of these supplies. Many have started to buy things in black because obviously, they are dealing with a lie-and-death situation. But people are selling in black is a problem.

What is the government doing?

Well, we have touched the mark of 3 lakh cases, if this is not alarming, we wonder what is. The Capital city, Delhi alone has reported 24,331 cases in the last 24 hours, (23rd-24th April), and the death toll is increasing day by day. The Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal, in the televised in-house meeting yesterday urged the Prime Minister to help reach the Oxygen supply to Delhi. Read Full Report Here.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with leading oxygen manufacturers across the country on Friday, urging them to fully utilize the industry’s ability to meet medical oxygen demand in the coming days. According to the Prime Minister, there is a need to improve the supply of oxygen cylinders as well as update logistics infrastructure for their transportation, Indian Express Reported.

What shall also be done?

While meeting the oxygen supply, beds, and medical supply, what also needs to be done right now is the creation of a centralized database that could help track the availability of resources so that people don’t have to rush and pull strings to avail themselves the resources. At present, there is a lot of confusion about where can a person go in emergency situations and actually avail of treatment as not many hospitals have a lot of beds left. In such a case, people are made to the infected patient from hospital to hospital, for beds and supply. So, a centralized database and dynamically updated one, to regulate this should be made.

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