[genghizkhan]

The situation is far worse in smaller towns and cities in places like Bihar and UP. I remember hearing stories during the second wave (some of which I was able to confirm) about doctors not telling family members that their loved ones had passed away so as to be able to keep charging the family for continued hospital care. The loss of trust in the medical profession is very real.

[foobarian]

I’m not from India and for the longest time it was tempting to think of India as one homogeneous place; but that is not what it’s like at all. Isn’t India enormous, with many quite different states and different levels of development? And bottom line, what percent of the population has access to good quality health services vs what the GP described?

[hannofcart]

This is exactly right. The disparity in the level of healthcare that you would get in an Indian state like Bihar vs that in a state like Kerala is similar to the difference you'd expect between Sub-Saharan Africa and a second world Eastern European country.

[hiyer]

> doctors not telling family members that their loved ones had passed away so as to be able to keep charging the family for continued hospital care.

While I've heard anecdotally that this happens, I find it hard to believe that this happened during the second wave when hospitals were, in general, being overrun with patients and running out of beds and oxygen cylinders. Why would you want to risk getting caught doing this when you anyway have a long queue of prospective patients waiting for a bed?

[zabhi]

Can confirm. Have personally seen this in Patna, Bihar.