India is deploying makeshift rail carriage hospitals as thousands of coronavirus patients scramble for beds and medicine following a brutal second wave.
On Monday, India declared a record 273,000 new cases of Covid-19, taking the country’s total to 15 million since the start of the pandemic in January 2020.
Several states and cities are witnessing distressing shortages of hospital beds and medicine, forcing authorities to set up temporary hospitals in hotels, auditoriums, schools and railway yards.
Distressed families flooded social media with pleas for hospital beds, oxygen supplies and drugs for sick relatives.
Authorities refurbished 5,000 state-owned Indian Railways train carriages into field hospitals in March 2020 to treat Covid-19 patients suffering from mild to moderate symptoms.
At the time, many of the ‘hospitals-on-wheels’ were surplus to requirements as strict lockdown measures saw a dip in cases, but the carriages will now see patients admitted.
Indian Railways normally operates 20,000 passenger trains daily, carrying 23 million people across the country on its 115,000- kilometre rail network, the world’s second-largest after China, but quickly pivoted to offer Covid-19 carriage wards and oxygen services.
The trains are being kept at depots and will be driven to stations in cities and towns where required.
The trains have patient beds, cabins for medical staff, bathrooms and power points for medical equipment. Patients will also be provided with water coolers as temperatures approach the annual peak in May.
Indian Railways has so far deployed 169 of its 3,800 converted coaches as case numbers rise.
In Maharashtra, India’s worst-hit state, railway companies deployed 94 Covid-19 care coaches in the northeastern city of Nandurbar. So far, 20 patients have been admitted.
In India's capital city New Delhi, 75 Covid-19 isolation coaches with more than 800 beds are ready to be deployed, railway minister Piyush Goyal tweeted.
The city, with a population of 20 million, is recording over 25,500 cases every day and has less than 100 intensive care beds available, the city’s top minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Monday, as he announced a week-long lockdown in the city.
"We have been receiving requests for the deployment of these coaches. We have 3,800 such coaches ready and can deploy at anywhere in the country," Indian Railways executive director Rajesh Dutt Bajpai told The National.
“The railways is taking care of cleanliness, meals and oxygen cylinders whereas the hospitals associated with state governments where the trains are stationed have the responsibility for doctors, paramedics and medicines,” Mr Bajpai added.
Mr Bajpai said the coaches are meant for patients with mild symptoms who do not require ICU beds or ventilators, adding that only hospitals can admit patients.
The railways are also running a special ‘Oxygen Express’ to transport liquid medical oxygen and oxygen cylinders to different parts of the country, said Mr Goyal.
The continued spread of the disease has pushed India into second place on an ominous leaderboard of nations with the most cases, behind the US.
It is hoped the train carriages will alleviate a health system pushed to breaking point. Hospitals, large and small, are running out of space and equipment, with patients having to share beds and oxygen cylinders as they gasp for breath and await treatment.
Videos on news channels have shown desperate families waiting outside hospitals, while Covid-19 patients are being kept in ambulances and private vehicles as doctors struggle to find beds and oxygen facilities.
The world’s fourth-largest economy spends only 3.5 per cent of its GDP on public healthcare, with a large section of the population deprived of basic medical care as they cannot afford private hospitals.
The country has just 23,582 state-run hospitals with 710,761 beds for its 1.3 billion people: a ratio of one bed per 1,844 people, according to World Bank data.
It also has a shortage of doctors, with one doctor for every 1,457 people – lower than the World Health Organisation norm of one per 1,000.
Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk
“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”
“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”
“One good thing is to know you’re not the only one going through it. You’re not the only one trying to find your way, trying to find yourself, trying to find amazing energy, trying to find a light. Show all of yourself. Show every nuance. All of your magic. All of your colours. Be true to that. You can be unafraid.”
“It’s time to stop holding back. It’s time to do it on your terms. It’s time to shine in the most unbelievable way. It’s time to let go of negativity and find your tribe, find those people that lift you up, because everybody else is just in your way.”
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
MATCH INFO
English Premiership semi-finals
Saracens 57
Wasps 33
Exeter Chiefs 36
Newcastle Falcons 5
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERobert%20Lorenz%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Liam%20Neeson%2C%20Kerry%20Condon%2C%20Jack%20Gleeson%2C%20Ciaran%20Hinds%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE DETAILS
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Dir: Ron Howard
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson
3/5
The specs: 2018 Ford F-150
Price, base / as tested: Dh173,250 / Dh178,500
Engine: 5.0-litre V8
Power: 395hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 555Nm @ 2,750rpm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 12.4L / 100km
Barcelona 3
Messi (27’, 32’, 87’)
Leganes 1
El Zhar (68’)
