Warnings about a sophisticated ransomware cyber attack affecting systems globally are rife. In the wake of this cyber fear, patients at the KEM Hospital, one of Mumbai's largest civic-run hospitals, are being subjected to ridiculous demands, as shown by a front-page report in this newspaper.

With ATMs running dry and no wireless card machine in its premises, the hospital's pharmacy is asking customers to hand over their debit cards and PINs to a stranger behind the counter, or figure out a way to pay in cash. A reporter from this paper was witness to this practice.