The tide of the Corona virus, which caused heavy casualties in the spring this year, has receded, but now millions of people are struggling to pay off the debts they have incurred due to medical bills. Taken for treatment.
Like most South Asian countries, including Pakistan, most Indians do not have health insurance and are mired in debt due to the cost of treating the corona virus.
Anil Sharma, a resident of New Delhi, visited his son at a private hospital for two months, according to the Associated Press. His son Sario Sharma was hospitalized with the corona virus.
According to Anil Sharma, all his savings were spent on ambulances, medical tests, medicines and ICU beds. He then took loans from banks. As the cost increased, he borrowed from friends and relatives. When it was over, they asked for money from strangers. He appealed for help online from India's crowdfunding website Kato. According to him, he has so far spent more than 50,000 US dollars on his son's treatment.
SEE ALSO: Fourth wave of corona in Pakistan: The rate of positive cases in Karachi increased by 24%. They got 28 28,000 by depositing money online but had to borrow the remaining 26 26,000 from people. He had never borrowed so much in his life.
He told the AP that his son was fighting a life-and-death battle and was stumbling from door to door to give him a chance to live. "I was a proud father, now I am a beggar," he said in an emotional voice.
The recent epidemic has taken a heavy toll on India's economy. While millions of people are under severe debt pressure, experts say it is hampering economic recovery.
Even before the epidemic, India's medical system was plagued by many problems.
Generally, Indian citizens pay up to 63% of the cost of medical treatment out of their own pocket. In India, where millions of jobs have been lost due to the global coronavirus outbreak, the cost of conscious treatment has exacerbated the problem.
B While jobs have been restored in many places in India since the end of the lockdown, economists are worried about the loss of 12 million jobs during this period. Anil Sharma's marketing job was one of those jobs.
When Anil Sharma asked his son's friends for an online fundraising campaign, he had not received his salary for the last 18 months. Of the nearly 4,500 online fundraising campaigns in India between April and June this year, 40% were to cover hospital costs due to the corona virus.
According to a Pew Research report published in March this year, the Corona virus epidemic in India has displaced 32 million people from the middle class to the lower class. These are people who earn less than ten to twenty dollars a day.
According to recent estimates by the AP, the number of people earning less than ڈالر 2 a day has risen to more than 75 million.
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