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The incident highlights the poor state of rural health care in India, a system blighted by lack of access to health-care facilities, shortages of doctors and paramedic staff, and the predominance of untrained private practitioners as the first point of care. Indian medical education is geared to train doctors to work only in tertiary care and specialised hospitals, so these areas become the primary professional aspiration of health workers, points out Vikram Patel, professor of international mental health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK.

More than 1 million new cases of cancer are reported in India every year. Because most Government-run facilities are in big cities, people from rural areas often have to travel long distances for treatment and follow-up. Clinical services in most cancer centres remained curtailed for most of the lockdown, and few new cases of cancer have been registered. “Since health care has been redirected to optimally manage the pandemic, routine clinical services including oncology have been relegated to second priority. “Though treating hospitals are taking utmost care to best manage patients, increased out-of-pocket expense related to accommodation, food, medicines, and travel is an ongoing challenge which has accentuated during the lockdown”, said Yogendra Kumar Sapru of Cancer Patients Aid Association (Mumbai, India).