‘A hopeless situation’: oxygen shortage fuels Nepal’s Covid crisis

Terrible scenes seen in India of a healthcare system in collapse are being repeated across the border

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The story of Dilli Raj Joshi is now a sadly familiar one. After travelling to a wedding in mid-April with his family - a fun, rowdy affair - he began to be troubled by a headache and then breathing difficulties.

Joshi's worried family took him to a nearby hospital, where he was diagnosed with Covid-19 and pneumonia. As his condition deteriorated, the doctors suggested he be transferred to a hospital with intensive care unit (ICU) beds and ventilators, as they had none. But though the family frantically searched for three days, no ICU ward had any space for Joshi. On Friday he died, having never received the medical care he needed to live.