Debt and Despair: Indians Struggle to Cover Medical Bills

Last year during the month of Ramadan, in an impoverished colony of Kanshiram Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh, Shehnaz briefly stepped out one evening to buy some snacks for her family’s iftar (fast-breaking evening meal of Muslims in Ramadan). On the way to the shop, she met with an accident and sustained injuries to her head, chest, and eye. She was immediately rushed to the hospital. However, the costs associated with her treatment were overwhelming and beyond her means. Her son had just started working in Delhi and had not yet received his first salary, leaving Shehnaz with no other choice but to sell her jewellery for Rs. 1.2 lac. Unfortunately, this amount proved to be insufficient to cover her