India’s second wave is ravaging villages without hospitals or even doctors to fight it

In the remote Indian village of Chogath, local pharmacistJeetuhas become the only source of medical help for people sick with Covid-19.

The country’s second wave has devastated major cities and regional hubs, with hospitals running out of oxygen and medicine.

But in rural states and far-flung villages, doctors and clinics are in even shorter supply – leaving residents to fight for their lives without access to care.

Chogath is a farming community in the western state of Gujarat, and home to roughly 7,400 people, according to the last census in 2011. Earlier this week, Jeetu told CNN there were around 500 to 600 cases of Covid in the village, while other residents report a spike in fatalities.

Jeetu, the local pharmacist and volunteer medic, at the village of Chogath, Gujarat, on May 9.

However, there isn’t a single doctor or medic in the village, and the closest city is more than an hour away. There are clinics in some neighboring towns, but these small facilities are also out of beds and critical supplies.

With cases and deaths piling up, Jeetu, who only goes by one name, took up the role as volunteer medic, using his experience as a pharmacist to source oxygen and prescribe medicine.

“There’s no one here – no health center, no doctor, no nurse,” he said. “There are no facilities in this village. So then I tackled it in the way I saw fit.”

Traveling for help

India is dealing with a crisis that is being felt everywhere from the capital, New Delhi, to the smallest villages and towns.

The second wave has infected millions across thecountry in the past month, with thousands dying every day. With nearly 23 million confirmed cases since the pandemic began, India is the second-worst affected country after the United States, according to data by Johns Hopkins University.

In Chogath, the absence of medical help is forcing desperate villagers to travel to surrounding towns in the hopes they can secure a hospital bed.

Dinesh Makwana, a Chogath resident, said he tried to get his Covid-positive father into four different hospitals in neighboring Gujarat towns – but they were all full. He had no choice but to bring his father, diagnosed as a severe case, back home to the village.

Dinesh Makwana and his father, Jivraj, residents of Chogath village in Gujarat, India, on May 9.

“We were very shocked (by the second wave),” he said. “The whole village is very shocked, everyone has become fearful.”

He said he knew many of the villagers who had died of Covid. “I became scared,” he said. “I thought my father would die.”

Jeetu – affectionately called “Jeetu Bhai,” or “Brother Jeetu” in the village – was able to provide some medicine that helped stabilize his father’s condition. But the family’s troubles aren’t over – Makwana’s sister and mother are now infected as well.

As Makwana spoke to CNN, his mother struggled to breathe as she lay on the family’s verandah, beneath images of Hindi deities hanging high above her on the wall.

“I am worried about my family,” said Makwana’s father, Jivraj. “If I die the family will shatter into pieces. I am worried about my wife, but I am not afraid of death.”

“Nobody comes or goes here”

Girjashankar, a 70-year-old Chogath resident, has been helping with cremations. He fills tractors with wood cut from fields and brings it back to the village, in preparation for the deaths and cremations to come.

Typically, the village sees about 30 people die a year – but in the past month alone, they’ve cremated90 bodies, according to Girjashankar, who only goes by one name.

Some families have lost multiple members to the virus, he said.

A volunteer performs cremations in the village of Chogath, Gujarat, on May 9.

Some experts and government committee members have suggested the second wave could be approaching a peak, meaning a potential downturn in daily cases. But deaths usually lag after a rise in cases – meaning high mortality is projected to continue throughout the month.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’sgovernment has scrambled to respond to the crisis, sending oxygen supplies to various states and distributing foreign aid that began arriving in late April.

But the scarcity of supplies means much of the aid is going to the most densely populated cities with the highest caseloads – leaving villages like Chogath to rely on themselves as the virus tears through households.

A young man receives a Covid-19 vaccine in Guwahati, India, on Saturday, May 8.

Police in Shimla patrol the streets of the Lower Bazaar area during a curfew on May 8.

An elderly woman wears an oxygen mask that was provided at a Sikh temple, also known as a gurdwara, in New Delhi.

A medical worker observes patients inside a Covid-19 ward that was set up inside a sports stadium in New Delhi.

A health worker administers a Covid-19 test on the outskirts of Amritsar on May 3. Police in rural areas launched a free cab service for villagers so they could get tested and vaccinated.

Volunteers stand next to burning pyres at a crematorium on the outskirts of Bengaluru on May 2.

Officials in Chennai prepare to open postal ballots for state elections, which have taken place during this second wave of Covid-19.

A worker at a mass crematorium carries logs of wood for funeral pyres as people perform the last rites for some Covid-19 victims in New Delhi on May 1.

A woman hugs her son after arriving to receive free oxygen in New Delhi on May 1.

A health worker administers a Covid-19 test in Siliguri on April 30.

Flower garlands, fruits and a pair of sandals were placed on a spot where a woman was cremated in New Delhi on April 30.

Police personnel hold placards on their motorbikes during a Covid-19 awareness rally in Chennai on April 29.

People wear protective suits while watching a relative's cremation in New Delhi on April 28. Their loved one died from Covid-19.

Workers prepare beds for a Covid-19 isolation center that was set up inside a stadium in Srinagar on April 27.

Multiple funeral pyres burn in New Delhi on April 27.

A health worker administers a Covid-19 test at a hospital in Noida on April 26.

Umar Farooq mourns at the grave of his mother, a Covid-19 victim, in Srinagar.

Health workers turn away an ambulance at the main entrance of the Lok Nayayak Jaiprakash Hospital in New Delhi on April 25.

A worker digs a grave for a Covid-19 victim in Guwahati on April 25.

A relative of a Covid-19 victim is consoled by another during a cremation in Jammu on April 25.

People wait to refill their oxygen cylinders at a refilling station in Allahabad on April 24.

A man inspects an intensive-care ward after a fire broke out at a Covid-19 hospital in Virar on April 23. At least 13 Covid-19 patients were killed in the fire.

This aerial photo, taken with a drone, shows a mass cremation in New Delhi on April 22.

Ambulances carrying Covid-19 patients line up outside a government hospital in Ahmedabad on April 22.

People line up for vaccines at an indoor stadium in Guwahati on April 22.

A relative of a Covid-19 victim breaks down during a cremation in New Delhi on April 20.

Police officers patrol a deserted street in New Delhi on April 20. The capital city has been on lockdown because of Covid-19.

Signs inform people that a vaccination center in Mumbai was out of vaccines on April 20.

Migrant workers crowd the Kaushambi bus station on April 19. They were trying to return home after a lockdown order was announced in the capital.

A woman waits to receive a Covid-19 vaccine in Mumbai on April 18.

Relatives of a Covid-19 victim mourn for their loved one outside a government hospital in Ahmedabad on April 17.

Migrant workers line up at a railway station to leave Mumbai ahead of a lockdown on April 14.

People gather at a Srinagar mosque on the first day of Ramadan on April 14.

A Hindu priest puts a face mask on an idol of the Goddess Ashapura during Navaratri celebrations in Beawar on April 13.

Hindu holy men wade into the Ganges River during the Kumbh Mela religious festival on April 12. People also packed the streets of Haridwar for what is the largest religious pilgrimage on Earth, and the massive crowds created concern.

Protesters wearing protective suits lie on a street near the Election Commission office in Kolkata on April 7. They were calling for a stop to the ongoing state legislative election and its associated campaign rallies.

Children wear face shields at a martial-arts class in Kolkata on April 5.

Supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party wear masks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election rally in Sonarpur on April 3.

Social distancing was not easy to achieve as people walked through a busy market in Old Delhi on March 27.

India's Covid-19 crisis, in pictures

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“There is no government relief in the village, no doctor, no way to come and go (to bigger hospitals),” said Girjashankar. “Nobody comes or goes here, there are no government workers of any kind.”

Jeetu, the pharmacist, said he was “very angry” at the lack of access to care and the shortage of help from authorities. “But what can one do?” he added. “We’ve got no solutions, the people here are poor.”

In the meantime, villagers have no choice but to wait for help and pray for recovery.

“All the people in the village were fearful,” said Makwana. “In the 15 or 20 days this has happened, no one has stepped out of their homes. People have gotten that scared.”

CNN’s Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report.