‘One month of death equals 3 years’ in the Indian village of Covid-19 translation

In the remote Indian village of Chogath, Mr. Jeetu, a local pharmacist, becomes the only source of medical assistance for Covid-19 patients.
The 2nd wave of Covid-19 in India has devastated major cities of the country. Oxygen, medicine and hospital beds were depleted, according to the hospital CNN .

Yet, in remote rural states, health resources are even scarcer. Some places don’t even have any medical resources to deplete. People can only fight the epidemic on their own and look to their fate. 90 people died in the past month, 3 times the average annual death toll. Dinesh Makwana took his father to four hospitals in nearby towns but could not find a single hospital bed. Photo: CNN. “No medical center, no doctors, no nurses” Chogath is a farming community in western Gujarat state, with about 7,400 inhabitants, according to the last census of 2011. Earlier this week, Mr. Jeetu said CNN that there are about 500 to 600 people with Covid-19 in the village. Residents here have also reported a spike in death toll. There are almost no doctors or medical facilities in the village. Meanwhile, the nearest city is more than an hour’s drive from the village. Some neighboring towns have clinics, but these facilities are very small and run out of beds and other essential medical supplies. The sudden spike in the number of illnesses and deaths in the whole village seemed to rest on Mr. Jeetu’s shoulder. An experienced pharmacist, he is in charge of prescribing medicine and supplying oxygen to the patients in the village. “No one, no medical center, no doctors, no nurses. There aren’t any facilities in this village. So I decided to deal with Covid-19 in a way that I see fit, ”he said. In Chogath, the lack of medical resources forced the desperate villagers to travel to the surrounding towns in the hope of finding a hospital bed. Dinesh Makwana, a resident of Chogath, said he tried to get his father with Covid-19 to four different hospitals in the surrounding towns but was hopeless. There are no more vacancies. With no other choice, he brought his seriously ill father to the village. “We are shocked (because of the 2nd Covi-19 wave). The whole village was very shocked, everyone was scared, ”he said. He said many people in the village died of Covid-19 and said: “I am very scared. I am worried that my father will lose “. Pharmacist Jeetu is the only source of medical assistance in Chogath village, Gujarat. Photo: CNN. Mr. Jeetu did his best to be able to provide some medicines to the villagers, including his father Makwana, to help stabilize the patient’s condition. However, the troubles that hit Makwana’s family do not stop there. His sister and mother are also infected. When Makwana talks to CNN, His mother was breathing hard on the porch. “I take care of my family. If I die, my wife and children will be crushed. I am not afraid of death, but only care for my wife, ”said Makwana’s father, Mr. Jivraj. 90 funerals a month Mr. Girjashankar, a resident of Chogath, despite being 70 years old, still helps families in the village to cremate their deceased loved ones. Day by day, he went to the forest or the field to cut wood, filled them with a tractor and then transported to the village, preparing to cremate the deceased. Normally, about 30 people die each year in the village. But within the past month, they cremated about 90 bodies, according to Mr. Girjashankar. Some families, he said, lost several people immediately because of the virus. Mr. Girjashankar, a cremation assistant, said that only a month ago, the village had 90 deaths, 3 times higher than the average annual death rate. Photo: CNN. The government tried to respond to the Covid-19 crisis in the country. They send oxygen supplies to various states and distribute aid from abroad. However, with the huge demand, the supplies do not seem to be distributed across the country. This means that the vast majority of health resources will go to the most densely affected and populous states. Therefore, small villages like Chogath have to survive this deadly epidemic on their own. “The village received no relief from the government. No doctors. There aren’t any government employees. The needed cannot come, and the person who needs to go (the hospital) cannot go ”, Mr. Girjashankar said. Pharmacist Jeetu said he was “very angry” because the people here are not being supported. “What can I do by myself,” he said. We don’t have any solutions, the people here are very poor ”. “All the people in the village are scared. 15, 20 days now, no one dares to step out of the house. Everyone is afraid, ”Makwana said. India uses the temple as a care center for patients Covid-19 Volunteers in the city of Ahmedabad, in western India, converted a temple into a Covid-19 patient care center, comprising a total of 50 beds.