Families devastated by COVID-19 need you. Please click here to donate now at worldvision.org.nz and save lives
"The doctors told us to take him to another hospital immediately, as they were running short of oxygen," says Amudhavalli. Most of the hospitals were already full with Covid-19 patients and new admissions could only be taken if somebody either died or got discharged. They took Murugan to 10 hospitals that day and were unable to find a single bed. Finally, they found a bed in a public hospital in the city.
Not long after he was admitted, the hospital Murugan was being treated at also ran out of oxygen. Without it, he had no chance of surviving, and two days later, Murugan died. Devastated by his death, Murugan's family's grief was compounded when they were told that, as per Government protocols for Covid-19 deaths, his body would be cremated immediately at the hospital. Amudhavalli and her four children, including Ashmitha, were not allowed to say a final goodbye to their beloved husband and father.
Murugan was the family's main breadwinner. Without him, his family is in dire need of support to survive. World Vision is providing Murugan's family with food and other essential items, but as the pandemic rages on there are now hundreds of thousands of children like Ashmitha whose lives have become a question of survival.
Ashmitha is struggling to begin to imagine life without her father. "I used to eagerly wait for it to be evening, so that I could go out for a walk with my father when he came home from work. He would also buy me snacks and toys some days."
Ashmitha remembers his last words to her, "He told me: Ashmitha, don't go anywhere out of the house. You should be careful and stay inside the house these days."
Now she wants to be a doctor so that she can save the lives of people like her father.
Families devastated by COVID-19 need you. Please click here to donate now at worldvision.org.nz and save lives
Where your money goes
Your support will help save lives by providing protection, prevention, and urgent life-saving healthcare.
· Oxygen
· Hospital beds
· Medical supplies
· Other desperately needed essentials