Amid crippling shortages of hospital beds and oxygen, healthcare workers are struggling to save lives
April 20, 2021
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Ever since the second wave of the pandemic started, the healthcare system in India has been teetering on the brink
Sanjay , a resident doctor at the Government Medical College in Nagpur, agonises over how he could do nothing as patients collapsed to death right in front of him.
“We are unable to help them because there are simply no beds and oxygen supplies for all the patients flooding in,” he says. The situation is so dire amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that even three patients are put together in one bed oftentimes, he says.
The domestic equity barometers ended with modest losses after a volatile trade on Tuesday. A record surge in Covid-19 cases and FII outflows from the capital market dented investors sentiment. IT shares saw major selling while banks shares extended recent losses. Auto and pharma stocks bucked the trend.
The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 243.62 points or 0.51% to 47,705.80. The Nifty 50 index lost 63.05 points or 0.44% to 14,296.40. Both these indices have fallen over 2.2% in two straight sessions.
HCL Technologies (down 3.56%), HDFC (down 3.16%), HDFC Bank (down 1.50%) and Infosys (down 0.87%) were major drags.
The broader market settled with gains. The BSE Mid-Cap index and the BSE Small-Cap index rose by 0.49% each.
The domestic equities were trading with minor gains in afternoon trade. At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 17.59 points or 0.04% at 47,967.01. The Nifty 50 index gained 17.95 points or 0.13% at 14,377.40.
Bajaj Finance (up 3.60%), Larsen & Toubro (up 1.85%) and ICICI Bank (up 0.54%) boosted the indices.
The broader market outperformed the benchmarks. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 1.19%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 1.02%.
Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1,804 shares rose and 956 shares fell. A total of 161 shares were unchanged.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,633.70 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,355.56 crore in the Indian equity market on 19 April 2021, provisional data showed.
(Representative image)
MADURAI: Madurai MP Su Venkatesan has written to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan urging him to renew the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package Insurance Scheme for Covid-19 warriors. The scheme expired on March 24.
Expressing shock over not renewing it for 27 days, the MP asked the government to renew it without delay.
The MP stated that the scheme had covered public healthcare providers who may have to be in direct contact and care of Covid-19 cases and who may be at risk of being impacted by this.
It also covered private hospital staffs, volunteers, workers of local bodies, contract and daily wage workers, ad hoc and outsourced staff requisitioned by state and central hospitals and autonomous hospitals of central and state governments and Union territories drafted for Covid 19 related responsibilities.
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