India's healthcare system is buckling as a record surge in COVID-19 cases puts pressure on hospital beds and drains oxygen supplies.
Families are left pleading for their relatives who are desperately ill, with some patients left untreated for hours.
Crematoriums are organising mass funeral pyres.
On Friday, India reported 332,730 new cases of coronavirus, setting a world record for a second day running. Deaths were numbered at 2,263 in 24 hours.
Dr Atul Gogia, a consultant at the Sir Ganga Ram hospital in Delhi, told the BBC there had been a huge surge in patients, leaving no space in the emergency room.
He says they do not have that many oxygen points.
Patients are coming in with their own oxygen cylinders or without oxygen.
He says all their telephone lines are jammed.
People are seeking hospital beds, life-saving drugs, oxygen and plasma for their infected and sick friends and relatives.
Millions of people attended a Hindu festival, the Kumbh Mela, which culminated 10 days ago with a mass dip in the River Ganges. New strains of the virus have emerged, including a double mutant strain.
Bollywood composer Shravan Rathod tested positive shortly after returning from the city where the Kumbh Mela was held and died not long after.
India has recorded 16.3 million cases with 187,000 deaths.
[Source: BBC]
