Exhausted, helpless, doctors struggle to keep sinking health system afloat

Many are grappling with guilt at having to turn patients away, not being able to save lives

Tanuj Chauhan, a 25-year-old residential medical officer at Metro Hospital in Gurugram, has lost six patients under his supervision in Ap­ril. As he struggles to find the st­r­ength to put on a brave face and provide moral support to his patients, the young doctor who is barely a year into the profession, says, “The situation is very critical. I can see the faces of the patients whom I have lost to this virus.”

Treating Covid patients, providing them the emotional support to help keep them calm while also dealing with the constant fear of contracting the infection are some of the