Indian American doctors pitch in with free telehealth advice during India's Covid-19 crisis

As the coronavirus crisis in India spirals out of control and its health care system crumbles, the Indian diaspora in the US is pitching in to help. Sitting thousands of miles away, unable to be there physically to help and feeling the grief and desperation of their loved ones back home, Indian American doctors provided friends and family with medical advice over phone and video calls.

But as the avalanche of Covid-19 deaths and cases continues to cripple the health care system during the second wave, the doctors are going beyond helping just family and friends. Some of them are now staying up nights, when it is daytime in India, to advise other coronavirus patients and raise money for medical supplies. "I didn't have to pay for my five years of medical school education in India, except for student union fees. So we all feel like we owe it to India. Some poor farmer must have paid taxes for us to go to medical school free. I have always felt I owe something back ... and I think most of them see it that way," said Dr. Kalpalatha Guntupalli of Baylor College of Medicine.