Unable to get bed, Delhi doctor who helped the homeless dies of Covid

A 60-year-old Delhi doctor who worked with homeless people for nearly a decade died on Friday due. He was unable to get a hospital bed after he tested positive for Covid.

Dr. Pradip Bijalwan, aged 60 years, died on Friday due to lack of oxygen. He had tested positive for Covid-19. When he did not get a hospital bed, he tried treating himself at home. However, he died after lack of oxygen damaged his lungs. Dr. Bijalwan had been working with the homeless people in Delhi for close to a decade. He also helped them during the Covid pandemic. He collaborated with IAS officer and human rights activist Harsh Mander in a street medicine programme for about 10 years in which he visited homeless people in the capital every night along with accompanied healthcare workers. “He kept a low profile and wanted to serve the most needy — a typical comrade guy who was very old fashioned. Street medicine is a tough job, you have to work at night, make rounds of pavements, homeless clusters, but he was willing to spend evening after evening among the poorest. People like him have sadly become very rare,” Harsh Mander told the Indian Express.