India’s COVID crisis: ‘I begged for help. My father still died’

Unable to find a hospital bed for his father, Ashish Shrivastav watched helplessly as his father struggled to breathe.

Lucknow, India – On April 14, Ashish Shrivastav, 39, bundled his 70-year-old father who was complaining of breathlessness into his small nano car and took him to the Vivekanand hospital in Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh state. At the hospital, his father, Sushil Kumar, tested positive for COVID-19 but, despite his age and vulnerability, the hospital told him he could not be admitted as there were no beds available. Ashish, who runs a private rehabilitation centre for children with disabilities, says he begged the doctors to admit his father but they told him to go to a government-run hospital instead.