The German Embassy in India's capital, New Delhi, warned its citizens this week that they face "little or no chance" of being admitted to a hospital in case of need, The Telegraph reports. The city's healthcare system is now close to collapse with the numbers of coronavirus cases surging and inadequate staff and supplies to cope.
This week, India confirmed 500,000 new Covid-19 cases, and the peak of the epidemic is predicted to occur months away, in November. Tens of thousands of hospital beds will be needed, and it is doubtful that the government can provide them. Already it has converted 500 train carriages into coronavirus wards, and set up a 10,000-bed facility in a New Delhi ashram.
Medical personnel report a severe lack of PPE (protective clothing) leading to a high infection rate among staff, from doctors to nurses to administrative and cleaning workers.
India's healthcare system is one of the most underfunded in the world, and poor working conditions and a failure to increase wages have prompted over a hundred thousand doctors to emigrate to countries such as the UK and Australia in recent years.