For three days earlier this month, 65-year-old Kashabha Kumbhar lay outside the Karad Sub-District Hospital as his family, which had made its way there from a village 20 km away, hunted for a hospital bed. It was only when Kumbhar turned critical that the hospital admitted him on September 10.
The Karad hospital had been converted into a Covid facility in March, but as cases lagged, had gone back to taking in other patients. Now, as coronavirus spreads to rural areas, hospitals like Karad’s in Maharashtra are struggling. Again declared Covid-only…