When a loved one falls ill, we turn to our hospitals and doctors in the trust that they will do everything in their power to help. So imagine the shock and despair that Santosh Ranjane must have felt when he took his critically ill brother-in-law to KEM Hospital, only to be told that he would have to manually pump oxygen into his brother’s system because there were no ventilators available.

From 3 pm to 7.30 pm, Ranjane sat by his brother-in-law’s bedside, urgently pumping oxygen. Although his hands soon began to ache, he could not take a moment’s rest — the patient’s every breath depended on him. It was only after four and a half hours that his tired fingers got some respite, after the doctors managed to provide a ventilator.