Indian doctors fighting COVID ‘overworked, stressed, frightened’

Indian Medical Association says 1,200 doctors died of COVID-19 since pandemic began, including more than 500 in last two months.

Low pay, 24-hour shifts and severe shortages of staff and protective gear have left many doctors on the front lines of India’s brutal pandemic surge near breaking point and fearful for their lives. Coronavirus infections have killed at least 165,000 people in the vast South Asian nation – home to some of the world’s most densely populated cities – since the start of April. Although India’s latest COVID-19 surge has eased recently, about 3,000 people are still dying every day and the chronically underfunded healthcare system remains under severe pressure.