Subuhi Jiwani

Haiyul Rahman Ansari

Sharmila Joshi

Editor

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In early May, Ajay Kumar Saw noticed
that he was running a fever. So he visited a doctor at a private clinic in
Itkhori town, around eight kilometres from Asarhia, his village in Jharkhand’s
Chatra district. The doctor didn’t administer a Covid
test and instead diagnosed that 25-year-old Ajay, a garment seller (in the cover photo on top with his son), had typhoid
and malaria. He tested Ajay’s blood oxygen saturation level though – it was
between 75 and 80 per cent. (The normal range is 95 to 100.) Ajay was then sent
home.After 2-3 hours he began finding
it very difficult to breathe and got worried. He left the same day to see
another doctor, this time at another private clinic in Hazaribagh (roughly 45
kilometres from Asarhia). Here, too, he was tested for typhoid and malaria but
not for Covid-19. 





However, Ajay tells Haiyul Rahman
Ansari, a video editor from the same village, that even though he was not administered a
Covid test “the doctor saw me and said I had corona. He told me to go to Sadar
Hospital [a government hospital in Hazaribagh] because if he were to treat me,
it would cost us more. Out of fear, we said we’ll pay whatever it costs. We
don’t trust government hospitals. No one who goes there for [Covid] treatment
survives.”

This
story’s co-author, Haiyul Rahman Ansari, had returned home to Asarhia for the
second time in the span of a year in April. He was all set to resume a
new job as a video editor in Mumbai that month when Maharashtra’s 2021 lockdown
was announced. He had gone back for the first time in May 2020 during the
nationwide Covid-19 lockdown (see PARI’s story on him <a id="14146" linktype="page">here</a>). He and his family managed with the paddy harvest on their 10-acre farmland,
keeping some for their own use, selling some in the market. In Asarhia, 33-year-old Rahman found
himself without work. His video editing skills mean little in the village, and
the sowing of rice and corn on his family’s 10-acre plot began only in mid-June.
He didn’t have much to do until then. Given his background in media – he has a
BA degree in Mass Communications and has worked as a video editor in Mumbai for
10 years – we asked him if he would like to report on how people in Asarhia
have been affected by the pandemic. He was excited by the idea.  In this video, Rahman tells us about Ajay Kumar Saw&#39;s encounter with Covid and his growing debt. After Ajay and his family, fearful
about government hospitals, decided to continue his treatment at the private
clinic/nursing home in Hazaribagh, he was put on oxygen support and medication
for Covid. He had to spend seven days there, till May
13. He had no idea it would cost Rs. 1.5 lakh. The only
way Ajay’s family could afford this expense was by taking loans from multiple
sources – a moneylender, from a women’s group his mother is a member of, and
from his grandmother’s family.







Before the pandemic, Ajay would travel
from village to village in his Maruti van to sell clothes, and earned Rs.
5,000-6,000 a month. He had to shut down this business during last year’s lockdown and again during this year’s shutdown. In December 2018, he
had bought the van by taking a loan of Rs. 3 lakhs, some of which is still to
be repaid. His family has survived the past year by relying
on the paddy harvest on their one acre land, and by taking further loans. He
tells, Rahman: “We’ll return the money slowly, once we
start to earn.”

‘We don’t trust government hospitals’

અમને સરકારી હોસ્પિટલો પર ભરોસો નથી

́ನಮಗೆ ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನಂಬಿಕೆಯಿಲ್ಲ'

‘நாங்கள் அரசு மருத்துவமனைகளை நம்புவதில்லை’

‘ସରକାରୀ ଡାକ୍ତରଖାନା ଉପରେ ଆମର ଭରସା ନାହିଁ’

‘চৰকাৰী হস্পিতালত আমাৰ বিশ্বাস নাই’

'সরকারি হাসপাতালের উপর আমাদের একফোঁটাও ভরসা নেই'

हमें सरकारी अस्पतालों पर भरोसा नहीं

‘మేము ప్రభుత్వ ఆసుపత్రులను నమ్మము’

'ਸਰਕਾਰੀ ਹਸਪਤਾਲ ਕਾਬਿਲੇ ਯਕੀਨ ਨਹੀਂ'

’ہمیں سرکاری اسپتالوں پر اعتماد نہیں ہے‘

‘സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ ആശുപത്രികളില്‍ ഞങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് വിശ്വാസമില്ല’

Asarhia

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‘We don’t trust government hospitals’

Ajay Kumar Saw, a clothes seller in Jharkhand’s Asarhia village, spent Rs. 1.5 lakh on Covid-19 care at a private clinic and is now in debt. A story co-authored by a video editor who lives in the same village

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