In India, cases of coronavirus passed 7 million (as of 12th October, 2020). The “corona ward” in a hospital in Delhi, the capital city of India, cares for patients infected with the coronavirus. Ward boys like Mr. Deep Chand are hospital staff who assist nurses and doctors to take care of patients in the corona ward. Mr. Chand and other ward boys take patient samples for testing, wheel patients across the hospital for X-rays, serve them food, talk to them and their families, and even clean the ward.

Amid the pandemic, doctors can rarely come to the ward for rounds more than once a day because of the high number of hospitalized patients. Mr. Chand and other ward boys have become a source of support for patients and their families by conveying doctors’ messages and offering words of comfort. In general, ward boys are some of the lowest-paid employees in a hospital, especially in small towns, where contractors hire them and lease their services to hospitals. An example is another ward boy, Mr. Sohan Lal, who works in a governmental hospital in the northern state of Bihar and earns only 5,000 rupees ($66 or £52) a month (as of 2nd August, 2020, according to the source article below).

To learn more about Mr. Chand and his story told by a patient’s family touched by Mr. Chand’s help and reassurance during a time of uncertainty: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53604691