Burnout, depression soars among Indian healthcare workers in Covid crisis

The number of doctors for every 10,000 people in India has fallen to around nine in 2019 from 12 in 1991, according to data on World Health Organization's website.

It is the silent toll of India’s deadly second wave.

After a terrifying month that saw Covid-19 overwhelm the country’s run down health system, doctors and nurses on the pandemic frontlines say they were pushed into physical and mental exhaustion as they fought to keep their patients alive.

Mousimi Das had to treat her own mother in her Kolkata hospital as countless patients including a colleague’s father died around her, working 48 hours in one stretch without a break. She has one message for the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“We are exhausted, frustrated, and depressed.” Das said over