COVID-19: Bodies pile up at government hospitals in Chhattisgarh
What's the story
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the country, dead bodies of coronavirus patients are piling up at a worrying speed at various government hospitals in Chhattisgarh, one of the worst-hit states, reports said.
The news has come as the healthcare system remains overwhelmed amid the ongoing second wave of the pandemic in India.
Here are more details on this.
Details
Bodies kept in open under the sun
Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital in Raipur, the city's biggest state-run medical facility, is out of space to store bodies, reported NDTV.
As freezers are all occupied, the bodies are now being kept anywhere with available space, even under the sun by the dumpsters.
The hospital's Intensive Care Units and oxygen-equipped beds have been almost fully occupied for the last week.
Statement
No one could have guessed this, said Chief Medical Officer
Raipur's Chief Medical and Health Officer, Meera Baghel, said they were not prepared for the second wave of infections.
"No one could have guessed that there would be so many deaths all at once. We have enough freezers for the usual number of deaths. But we just can't understand how places with one to two deaths are reporting 10-20...Even crematoriums are overwhelmed," she said.
Quote
'Unable to size up the new wave yet'
"We were close to winning against COVID-19 in a way thanks to measures like home isolation. But we are not able to size up this new wave yet. We are seeing cases where even asymptomatic patients are deteriorating really fast," she said, according to NDTV.
Order
6 new electric crematoriums to be set up
In view of the situation, the Chhattisgarh government has decided to set up electric crematoriums in six urban areas of the state so as to facilitate funeral procedures, The Times of India reported.
According to the state's Urban Development Minister, Shiv Kumar Dahariya, the new crematoriums will be built in Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Korba, Bhilai, and Risali.
Situation
Chhattisgarh reported over 13K new cases yesterday
Chhattisgarh, one of the 10 worst-affected Indian states in the second wave of COVID-19, yesterday reported 13,576 new cases taking the state's tally to 4,56,873. 5,031 patients have died there.
Cumulatively, India logged more than 1.6 lakh fresh infections pushing the nationwide tally to 1.36 crore.
The country's death toll currently stands at over 1.71 lakh.