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Healthcare workers are the first line of defence to combat this pandemic, and many battles of life and death are being fought inside the Covid-19 ward. In this episode, we are in conversation with Ms Mirai Chatterjee from SEWA, as we bring you the accounts of five women healthcare workers from across India. These workers' stories shed light on the shortage of protective equipment, high patient volumes, risk of infection, psychological and even physical abuse by patients, and constant exposure to deaths of patients and colleagues. The psychosocial consequences of all of these challenges on the mental health of our health workers are likely to be very serious. If we are to provide good quality health care and cope with not only this pandemic but future health crises too, we need to take the time to process what we have lost and make the investments necessary to prepare ourselves for the future.

Episode contributors: Mirai Chatterjee, Sangita Maurya, Dr Evita Taneja, Dr Vimal Sangam, Dr Sumedha Tiwari and Padma Hedoo

Host: Pattie Gonsalves

Produced in New Delhi by Faith Gonsalves.
Audio and music produced by Ishaan Gandhi.
Contributor management by Sweta Pal.
Artwork by Natasha Yadav.
A project of Sangath, supported by the Wellcome Trust.