SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingA further 1,000 ventilators will be sent to help coronavirus-hit India, the UK government has announced.As India continues to report soaring infections and record deaths, the UK’s chief medical and scientific officers have also spoken with their counterparts there to offer advice.The latest assistance is on top of a package of support announced last week.Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The UK will always be there for India in its time of need.”He added: “I am deeply moved by the surge of support the British people have provided to the people of India and am pleased the UK government has been able to play our part in providing life-saving assistance.”No 10 said Mr Johnson will hold a virtual meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to discuss deepening cooperation between the UK and IndiaIndia recorded its highest daily coronavirus death toll since the pandemic began – 3,689 – and has become the first country to register more than 400,000 new cases in a single day.Mr Modi met his health minister on Sunday morning to review the crisis.Covid-19 in India: Visual guide to the crisisThe messages deciding between life and deathDelhi running out of space to cremate Covid deadForeign Secretary Dominic Raab earlier said the UK would “look very carefully” at any request for vaccines from India.Some five million Oxford-AstraZeneca doses, manufactured in India and destined for the UK, have been held there while safety checks are carried out.One scientific adviser to the government, Prof Peter Openshaw, suggested it would be appropriate to allow India to use these doses.Mr Raab told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: “The Indian relationship is very important to us and we’d obviously want to co-operate very closely together.”Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said the UK “can and should do more” to help India.She told Sky News: “There are long and deep ties between us and India, which mean that we should step up and provide more equipment, more support.”Britain’s Indian communities, businesses and charities have led appeals for emergency oxygen and donations, as many hospitals in India see supplies run low.GLOBAL SPREAD: How many worldwide cases are there?OXFORD JAB: What is the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine?EPIDEMIC v PANDEMIC: What’s the difference?VACCINE: When will I get the jab?The government announced last week it would send 200 ventilators, 495 oxygen concentrators and three oxygen generation units – with the first shipment arriving on Tuesday.The UK’s chief medical adviser Chris Whitty and the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance spoke to colleagues in India to provide “advice, insight and expertise”, the government said.Downing Street confirmed NHS England will also establish a clinical advisory group led by its chief people officer Prerana Issar to support India’s Covid response.FIND A FILM ON IPLAYER: We’ve got your Bank Holiday viewing sortedSAVED BY A STRANGER: Finding acts of humanity amidst danger and chaos

SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingimage copyrightSina WeiboA social media post from an account linked to the Chinese Communist Party has sparked controversy for appearing to mock India over its coronavirus crisis.The post on Chinese site Weibo showed an image of a rocket launch in China alongside a photo of the bodies of Covid victims being cremated in India.Text with it read: “Lighting a fire in China VS lighting a fire in India.”The post, which appeared on Saturday afternoon, has since been deleted.It was reportedly published by an account belonging to an official Chinese law enforcement agency – the Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission – which has millions of followers on Weibo, a popular microblogging site in the country.Users responding to the post, which was later shared using screenshots of the original, wrote that it was “inappropriate” and that China “should express sympathy for India”. Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of China’s Global Times media outlet, wrote: “Hold high the banner of humanitarianism at this time, show sympathy for India, and firmly place Chinese society on a moral high ground.”The Weibo post appeared a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolence to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the country’s deepening Covid-19 crisis. Mr Xi said China was willing to enhance co-operation with India and provide any additional help where needed.India is struggling to cope with a devastating second wave of coronavirus, with hospitals battling to treat patients amid a chronic shortage of beds and medical oxygen.On Sunday, India recorded a daily coronavirus death toll of 3,689 – the highest since the pandemic began.It came a day after the country became the first to record more than 400,000 new cases within a 24-hour period.More on India’s Covid crisis:A visual guide to the coronavirus crisis in IndiaYour top questions about India’s Covid crisis answeredWhy India’s Covid crisis matters to the whole world

SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingimage copyrightGetty ImagesPeople may not need to self-isolate if they have been in close contact with someone with Covid, if a new trial is successful.The government-backed research will trial giving people daily lateral flow tests for seven days – instead of quarantining for 10 days.So long as they test negative all week, they can carry on with their lives.From 9 May, about 40,000 close contacts of people with Covid in England will be invited to take part in the study.Self-isolating means staying at home and not leaving it – not even to buy food or medicines, or for exercise. As part of this major new study, people will have to test themselves every morning for seven days and will be exempt from the legal requirement to quarantine at home every day they test negative, as long as they do not show any symptoms of Covid.Lateral flow tests give results in about 30 minutes but are considered less sensitive than PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, which are processed in a laboratory with results returned in 24 hours or so.What are the current self-isolation rules?You usually have to self-isolate for 10 days if you’ve tested positive or been in close contact with someone who hasClose contact includes being within two metres of someone for more than 15 minutes, or within one metre for a minuteYou might need to self-isolate for longer if you get symptomsPeople told to self-isolate are not allowed visitors, and are not allowed to leave their homeBetween May 2020 and April 2021 in England, more than 6.7 million close contacts were reached and told to self-isolate, NHS Test and Trace data shows.A large study of the test-and-trace system, published last month, found low numbers of people had followed the self-isolation rules in full.Men, younger people and parents with young children were less likely to self-isolate – as were those from more working-class backgrounds, people in financial hardship and key workers.Common reasons for not fully self-isolating included going to the shops or work, for a medical need, to care for a vulnerable person, to exercise or meet others – or because symptoms were only mild or getting better.A step too far or a price worth paying?The UK regulator has always cautioned against the use of lateral flow tests in this way. The concern is that they are not accurate enough, certainly not when used at home to correctly identify enough positive cases. So while they were given the green light for mass testing, which they are currently being used for on the basis they would pick up some cases that would not have been identified previously, deploying them to allow close contacts to avoid isolation was deemed a step too far. But the vaccination programme has changed the equation by reducing the risk from Covid. It means what is proportionate needs to be reassessed. Asking people who come into close contact to isolate has a significant cost to that individual. Is that right when the risk of Covid is lower than it once was? And will people continue to isolate given the changing landscape? Accepting some cases will slip through the net could be a price worth paying. This trial will help understand what that price is. Professor Isabel Oliver, Public Health England’s national infection service director, said the study would be key to informing how “the approach to testing might evolve”.”Self-isolation is very challenging for some people, particularly those who aren’t able to work form home or don’t have access to readily available support or help from others,” she told BBC Breakfast.”If this allows us to return to greater normality, it would be a great step forward.”She said the study needs to recruit such a large number of people, who will be invited as part of the contact tracing process, because infection rates are relatively low at the moment.As well as the daily lateral flow test, study participants will take a more accurate PCR test at the beginning and end of the trial period. They will also take a PCR test if any of the daily tests gives a positive result. And anyone testing positive will be required to self-isolate as normal during the trial.LOCKDOWN RULES: What are they and when will they end?VACCINE: When will I get the jab?LOOK-UP TOOL: How many cases in your area?NEW VARIANTS: How worried should we be?Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “This new pilot could help shift the dial in our favour by offering a viable alternative to self-isolation for people who are contacts of positive Covid-19 cases, and one that would allow people to carry on going to work and living their lives.”GP Dr Ellie Cannon told BBC Breakfast it was “a really positive step because we haven’t been good at self-isolation”, often because people could not afford to take time off work.She said many people also had to self-isolate unnecessarily, “which has really stopped life in the UK over the past year”.While lateral flow tests are not as accurate as the PCR swabs used at testing centres, their use by schools to safely reopen has shown they can be effective, Dr Cannon said.On Saturday, a further seven deaths within 28 days of positive Covid tests were reported – and 1,907 more cases.FIND A FILM ON IPLAYER: We’ve got your Bank Holiday viewing sortedSAVED BY A STRANGER: Finding acts of humanity amidst danger and chaos

In this era of social distancing, lawn games like croquet, badminton and horseshoes offer a great way to spend some time outside.A year ago, when shelves dedicated to toilet paper and baking yeast yawned empty and respirator masks and hand sanitizer were sold out seemingly everywhere, shoppers in England encountered another shortage: croquet sets.But supplies have rebounded, and as leisure seekers everywhere should recognize, croquet and related lawn games — played outdoors and at a convenient distance — are reasonably safe alternatives to team sports or going to the gym.So this spring, with many adults still awaiting second vaccine doses and children still entirely unvaccinated, why not pick up a mallet (or a racket, a horseshoe, a bocce ball) for some intergenerational fun? Beci Carver, a lecturer at the University of Exeter, described playing a lawn game as “a socially distanced intimate encounter, which is kind of a lovely thing, really.”Lawn games do have rules, but not too many, and they don’t demand a great amount of skill. “They aren’t athletic endeavors,” said Brooks Butler Hays, the author of “Balls on the Lawn: Games to Live By.” . “The stakes are low enough that even if people aren’t into the competition, they can still have fun.”A noncontact leisure activity, lawn games don’t require much efforteither, and you can wear whatever you like. “Most of these games were promoted as you wouldn’t get sweaty while doing it, you could look quite nice,” said Kasia Boddy, a lecturer at Cambridge University.People have played some version of a lawn game for thousands of years, with equipment as varied as cow intestines, pig bladders, sharp sticks and loose stones. There are exciting regional variations like Sweden’s Kubb, Germany’s hammerschlagen and Italy’s ruzzola, a game played with a wheel of aged pecorino. But the games suggested here are less esoteric (no cheese wheels required) and none require a dedicated court, just a reasonably flat stretch of grass or dirt or gravel. In most games players take turns, which makes distancing a snap. Shuttlecocks aside, there is little reason for many hands to handle the same items required for play. Lawn games are a low-key, low-cost, public-health-friendly way to give structure to an afternoon, and whether you flout open-container laws while you play is strictly up to you. CroquetThe origins are croquet are disputed. Some historians trace it back to a French game called paille maille, while others trace it to an Irish game played with broomstick mallets called crookey. Croquet as we now know it surged throughout Britain in the 1860s and was soon exported to its various colonies.Some of croquet’s popularity owed to its status as the rare sport that men and women could play together, which made it a favored avenue for flirtation. (Some clerics denounced it as immoral, a good indication that it was probably a lot of fun.) “Women would be wearing special croquet dresses that were slightly shorter than normal dresses, so they would glimpse ankles, and so on,” said Ms. Boddy. These days, sets are available for under $30, though equipment from Jacques of London, which has crafted sets since the 1800s, will run you a bit more.BadmintonJane Austen knew how to have a good time — quilting, gardening, whist — and in 1808 she wrote to her sister that she and her nephew had taken up a lawn game, battledore and shuttlecock, a precursor of badminton. “He and I have practiced together two mornings, and improve a little; we have frequently kept it up three times, and once or twice six.”Shuttlecock games go back thousands of years. Badminton, the modern iteration, is typically played by either two or four players, who bat a shuttlecock or birdie, usually made of plastic, across a net. (These nets are lightweight and can be assembled most anywhere.) Plenty of sets are available for less than $50 and you can even pick up glow-in-the-dark shuttlecocks for nighttime play.Bocce, Pétanque, Lawn BowlingDepending on how loosely you define these games, in which larger balls are tossed toward a smaller one, the concept emerged perhaps 7,000 years ago. In medieval England, bocce was briefly condemned by both the church and state as it distracted the working classes from both. (Nobles were addicted, too; legend has it that Sir Francis Drake delayed defeating the Spanish Armada so that he could finish a round.) The games are played worldwide. Dutch colonists brought it to America in the early 17th century, and here in New York, many city parks still include bocce courts and bowling greens, though you can manufacture your own on any reasonably flat rectangle of ground. Wooden, metal and resin sets can be had for under $40, with light-up sets available too.Horseshoes, Quoits, Ring TossThese dexterity games can trace a lineage leading back to recreation for idling Roman soldiers, or even further back to Greek discus events. In the 14th century, quoits, a game in which a metal disc is aimed at a wooden peg was considered so diverting that King Richard II banned the general public from playing it. Exported to America, both horseshoes and quoits flourished in the colonial era, though horseshoes eventually became more popular, so much so that the 19th-century Duke of Wellington credited “pitchers of horse hardware” with winning the Revolutionary War. Wooden and rope ring-toss sets — the successors to quoits — are widely available, as are metal and plastic horseshoe sets.

Flowers are magic. They are beautiful, uplifting and, when added to a drink, incredibly refreshing.Flower bouquets have been go-to gifts on Mother’s Day for decades, as blooms celebrate love and admiration. But this year, honor the mothers in your life by making a floral libation.Whether for food or drink, there is a thrill when using edible flowers in the kitchen. You can add dried blooms to salts, sugars or syrups, and use fresh blooms as cocktail garnishes, pressed into homemade biscuits and tossed in salads. Organic edible flowers can be found at your local farmer’s market or natural foods store, as well as online.But chamomile is a very accessible edible flower, since many people have a bag of chamomile tea in their pantries. The flower has a sweet, earthy flavor, and makes a lovely and versatile simple syrup that may soon become a staple in your refrigerator. Go to NYT Cooking for a recipe to make your own syrup, as well as two warm-weather drink recipes that incorporate it.Chamomile Simple SyrupNot only does this syrup taste delicious in a cocktail or mocktail, it is also wonderful drizzled on French toast or vanilla ice cream with fresh berries. You can even use it to sweeten iced coffee.Chamomile Lime Rickey MocktailA floral, nonalcoholic twist on a classic drink, this flavorful fizzy limeade is the perfect front-porch sipper on a warm afternoon. The chamomile adds some sunshine, and little ones will love it as well.Chamomile Strawberry Gin Daisy CocktailThis pretty-in-pink libation is fresh, tangy and sweet. It celebrates everything you love about spring in one glass, and tastes great all summer, too.Cassie Winslow is the founder of the blog Deco Tartelette and the author of “Floral Libations.” Her second book, “Floral Provisions,” will be released in March 2022.

SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharing”It comes with risks, but then this operation will mean I’ve done the best for her. In my mind there was no choice – I just had to do it.”After six failed rounds of IVF, Helena had almost given up hope of having a second baby. But on her seventh attempt she became pregnant and things seemed to progress well until her 20-week scan.There, Helena was told her daughter had spina bifida.Spina bifida: Keyhole surgery repairs baby spine in womb”It was a very large legion on her back and half of her spine was exposed. They said that it was likely she will be paralysed, incontinent and will need a shunt to drain the fluid from her brain later on,” Helena recalls. “I was beside myself when they told me all the possible outcomes for having this condition and I couldn’t stop crying. “They told me the probability of her walking or moving her legs was very, very low – and that was absolutely devastating.”Quality of lifeWithin days, Helena was referred for tests and told she was eligible for surgery. At 23 weeks pregnant, she travelled to a specialist hospital in Belgium, which works in partnership with the NHS.A team of around 25 clinicians carried out the complex operation to repair her baby’s exposed spinal cord and close the hole in her back.”I knew if I didn’t get the operation the quality of her life would be very different,” Helena says.Prof Anna David, foetal medicine consultant at University College Hospital in London, said: “Previously the baby would have the repair to the defect after birth – but now that we can do the surgery in the womb, the defect is closed a lot earlier so it means there’s less damage to the spine.”That increases the chances of the child being able to walk and have more control over their bladder and bowel.”Helena gave birth to her daughter Mila – short for milagro, or miracle, in Spanish – at University College London Hospital three months after the surgery. Mila still has some fluid on her brain, but so far she is showing signs of good development.’So grateful'”She can move her legs,” says Helena, “and she’s got feeling to her toes so it’s absolutely amazing”.”I’m just so grateful to the surgeons who’ve done this operation because her life would look very different without it.”Spina bifida, which affects about 1,500 pregnancies a year in the UK, prevents the spine and spinal cord developing properly.It can lead to paralysis, bowel, bladder and kidney problems.But if surgeons can operate at between 22 and 26 weeks of pregnancy, instead of after birth, it means a much better outcome for the baby.The procedure involves specialists from University College London Hospitals, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium. Thirty-two babies have undergone the procedure since January 2020.’Trail-blazing’Prof Stephen Powis, medical director for NHS England, said it was just one example of the innovative treatments offered by the NHS.”As well as fighting a global pandemic, the NHS continues to develop and offer these trail-blazing services and continue to be there for patients.”Kate Steele, chief executive of Shine, which offers advice and support to families affected by spina bifida and hydrocephalus, said: “We hope that every family who might benefit from foetal surgery is given the opportunity to find out whether surgery is right for them, and that they are supported by their local service, as Helena was.”Related Internet LinksSpina bifida – NHSShine – Spina Bifida & HydrocephalusGreat Ormond Street HospitalUniversity College London HospitalsUZ LeuvenThe BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Dr. Jadhav took action when the pandemic hit last year, mustering personal protection equipment, food and transportation for the staff.This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.When Dr. Manisha Jadhav’s mother died, she struggled to cope with her grief. Her husband encouraged her to join a karaoke singing class as a distraction, and soon she was posting videos of her performances on social media.“She bought two karaoke sets, for each one of us,” her husband, Dr. Navnath Jadhav, said. “And in no time, I was singing with her too.”Dr. Jadhav, the chief medical officer at the Group of Tuberculosis Hospitals in Mumbai, found other outlets for her enthusiasm. After she became interested in photography last year, her husband, a pathologist, said, she took a course, watched experts explain their craft on YouTube, went on picture-taking tours and filled notebooks with observations on camera angles, focus, exposure and lighting. She also gave her husband a camera so he could share her interest.Dr. Jadhav died on April 19 in a Mumbai city hospital. She was 51. The cause was complications of Covid-19, her husband said.Her approach to her hobbies was a reflection of her dedication to her job, which involved managing the hospital’s staff and handling operations. When the pandemic hit Mumbai in March 2020, she quickly organized personal protective equipment for the hospital’s workers amid a severe shortage, ensured that they had food, and made travel arrangements for the staff when public transport was suspended during the lockdown.She was one of 13 doctors honored for their efforts by the governor of Maharashtra State in December.“Doctors are like soldiers,” she would say. “They can’t be unavailable.”Manisha Ramugade was born in Mumbai on May 11, 1969, to Ram and Ratan Ramugade. Her father was a postal worker, her mother a homemaker. She was the youngest of four siblings.“As a kid, she would tell us that she wanted to become a doctor, and joke about giving injections,” her sister Sunita said.Manisha studied at the Utkarsha Mandir High School in Mumbai and completed her secondary schooling at MVLU College. She was awarded a medical degree by Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College in Mumbai, where she met Navnath Jadhav. She also received diplomas in chest medicine and hospital administration.She joined the Group of Tuberculosis Hospitals in 1996 as a clinician and shifted to the administration six years ago. The hospital has been at the center of many strikes and protests, and Dr. Jadhav often found herself negotiating with the union representing the staff, persuading them not to take actions that she felt might affect patient care.“If she convinced us to call off a protest, she would also ensure to follow up on our demands until they were met,” Pradeep Narkar, a senior member of the labor union, said.On April 14, her photography class named her aspiring photographer of the year. “She attended the online ceremony, even as she was unwell,” her photography teacher, Vinayak Puranik, said.Along with her husband and her sister Sunita, Dr. Jadhav is survived by her son, Darshan, a medical student in Ukraine, and another sister, Anita. Her brother, Ravi, died last year.

SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingimage copyrightGetty ImagesUS headlines abound of average Americans crowd sourcing funds for their medical treatment, or selflessly forgoing necessary medicine in order to save money for their families. Why are these stories so popular? Dillon Hooley was a 17-year-old high school senior when he began cutting back on insulin, a life-saving drug necessary to manage his diabetes. The decision nearly caused him to die in his sleep.”I wasn’t thinking right, but my parents work so hard to give me what I need, and I didn’t want to put more financial stress on them,” he told CNN in a 2019 article about the skyrocketing costs of insulin.The family’s insurance deductible required them to spend $5,500 (£4,000) before receiving any benefits, forcing them to pay $800 per month for Dillon’s insulin. The coverage was provided by his father’s job at a steel mill in Utah.image copyrightFamily handoutCutting back his dosage to life-threatening levels was an illustration of how the teen “wanted to help out any way he could,” said the article’s introduction.”My son really didn’t like the CNN story and how he was portrayed,” says his mother, Mindie Hooley, who saved his life by waking him up and bringing him to hospital after he almost slipped into a coma due to a lack of insulin in his blood.”The story made him seem like a ‘hero’ who rationed his insulin to save his family and this wasn’t the case at all. He felt he had no other choice other than to ration,” she says, describing how the family had suffered financially.”Our family wishes that the article would have emphasised more about why he felt he had to ration. We wish that the emphasis was on why so many are to blame for why insulin is so expensive,” Mrs Hooley told the BBC.Manufacturers have raised costs sky high in order to give steep discounts to middlemen acting on behalf of insurance companies, says Mrs Hooley, who now advocates for affordable insulin access with the group T1 International. The family’s insurance company does not pay for Dillon’s continuous glucose monitor, test strips, or other supplies, also costing him thousands of dollars each month. To save money, he orders insulin through an online pharmacist, leading to batches that sometimes arrive late or spoiled.Now 20, Dillon has gone to work at the same company as his father, doing 12-hour graveyard shifts to earn enough money to fill in the gaps that health insurance will not cover.Dillon’s story of medical financial struggle being painted as a positive is not unique. Critics say it misses the point – but some say it can be life-saving if the appeal resonates.image copyrightGetty ImagesResearcher Alan MacLeod refers to these types of stories, depicting triumph over adversity, as “perseverance porn”.MacLeod, who is based in Scotland and represents the group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, says stories of working-class people persevering against all odds have been told throughout history, and speak to the public’s desire for human interest stories that put their own lives into perspective.”These sorts of stories about persevering through tough times are really sort of relevant to pretty much anyone,” he says, adding that they are growing in popularity as people struggle amid the global pandemic.’I hope I make it’The story of a seven-year-old girl from Birmingham, Alabama, selling lemonade to fund her brain surgeries went viral earlier this year.Liza Scott’s appeal raised nearly $400,000 (£290,000), allowing her to fly to Boston for a series of potentially life-saving operations.Her mother, Elizabeth Scott told the BBC in an email that “it’s amazing that [her story] has reached folks around the world”.MacLeod says that “kids selling lemonade are a classic example” of the “perseverance porn” that he has documented. He has seen several cases of children setting up lemonade stands to pay for their parents’ or their own medical treatment.”It’s never truly acknowledged that if these children lived in a more humane society, their perseverance would not even be necessary.” “If that girl lived in Nova Scotia, Norway or New Zealand she wouldn’t have to desperately try to sell lemonade on the street to afford her medical bills.”Crowd-sourcing website GoFundMe says that at least one third of its fundraisers are for medical treatments. Healthcare costs are also the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US.’My TikTok fans saved my life’Jescenia Ramos is a type-one diabetic with multiple chronic illnesses who uses TikTok to spread awareness about disabilities – and stay alive.Whenever Ramos has been kicked off private insurance, which has happened repeatedly and for varied reasons, the 21-year-old jewellery designer has relied on TikTok followers to help pay for insulin.”If it wasn’t for the fact that I had a really large TikTok following, I would have been dead. Because nobody would have seen that GoFundMe,” Ramos tells BBC News.The human cost of insulin in AmericaThe lengths Americans go to for cheap medicineRamos identifies as two-spirited, a third gender in Native American tradition, and uses they/them pronouns.They have around 60,000 followers under the name @quiibunnie, and says that being a “failure of the foster system” is the most recent reason that they lost their healthcare coverage.image copyrightJescenia RamosRamos’ non-biological parents, who raised them since they were 17 months old, did not ever legally adopt them despite being their legal guardians. For that reason, the family’s insurance company decided that Ramos is not considered a dependent – not actually their child – and must purchase a separate coverage plan. Ramos, who uses a wheelchair, now pays about $375 per month to the insurance company, and still has to pay another $700 per month for medications. That is still cheaper than buying the insulin without any insurance.After their most recent fundraising campaign, the third they’ve been forced to do, Ramos felt pressured to lie and tell their followers: “It’s okay, guys. I’m fine.””My story got shared around on TikTok and people had been asking for a positive update on the story, and I wish I could give them a positive update on the story, but I really can’t,” Ramos says.”Because I’m still definitely struggling incredibly financially,” they continue, adding that diabetes will probably cause further health problems in their future. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to tell my platform, like, ‘Oh this will never happen again. I’ll never need your help again’.””But the reality of the situation is I will. I will always need help again,” Ramos says, adding that “the reality of medical care in America is you have money or you die.””I am exhausted from trying to get people on the internet to care enough about my life to donate five dollars,” says Ramos.image copyrightGetty ImagesLaura Marston says that stories of diabetic Americans losing their insulin access or being forced to ration the life-saving medicine are extremely common across the country.”If you really think down to the bare bones of the concept of paying for insulin, its very akin to this: If three companies own all of the world’s oxygen and every breath you needed you had to pay for,” says Marston, who is also diabetic.The 38-year-old IT lawyer lost her own health insurance after her employer died expectantly and the law firm where she started her career was dissolved. “It always kind of baffles me that people who are dealt a genetic hand – in this country at least – are told to work harder and make more money to pay not just the cost of our medical care but to prop up the industries like pharma,” she says.’This is awesome!’Even for families with employer-provided health insurance, the benefits may not sufficiently provide for the medical need, and the system often seems designed to be as confusing as possible.When two-year-old Logan Moore’s medical condition made it impossible for him to walk, his family decided that the boy couldn’t wait for a needed medical device to be approved by the family’s insurance provider.So they did it themselves.One afternoon in 2019, Logan and his mum went to Home Depot hardware store in Georgia and asked where to find the parts they would need to build a walker, which they had researched how to make themselves on YouTube.Instead, the employees told the family to get some ice cream while they assembled a personalised walker for Logan on the company’s dime.THIS IS AWESOME! Two-year-old Logan Moore needs a walker to get around but his family didn’t know if insurance would cover for one, so his local Home Depot found parts to make it themselves. 🥺❤️ MORE: https://t.co/V0YoW3FHuk pic.twitter.com/8QLHa2a8Mq— FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) May 28, 2019
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on TwitterThe image of young Logan was widely shared online, but many found the story to be heartbreaking and “dystopian”.”This is awesome!” tweeted a Fox TV affiliate in Washington DC, alongside a picture of the smiling boy.”This is horrific,” one person responded. “This isn’t heart-warming. It’s an indictment of the US healthcare system,” replied another.”Regular people being lovely, generous, and creative is good. Making marginalised people depend on them for basic survival is not,” tweeted another user.You may also be interested in:

More than one in three deaf people have reported struggling with their mental health because of the pandemic, according to a recent report by the deafness charity SignHealth. Christopher Reid, Director of Operations at SignHealth said: “We are very concerned that 35% of deaf respondents indicated that the pandemic has had a major negative impact on their mental health and 61% highlighting anxiety as what has impacted them most.”SignHealth is now appealing to the government to do more in regards to continued accessibility. They have backed the ‘Where is the interpreter’ campaign, in an effort to increase the accessibility of information for people whose hearing is impaired. Video Journalist: Faith Sullivan-Lewis

Fertility campaigners in Sweden say healthcare officials have broken a promise to help more single women get pregnant.In April 2016, Swedish women without partners were given the same rights as couples to access state-funded fertility treatments including IVF.But waiting times are so long in one part of the country that women have been told it’s too late to join the list once they turn 37.Reporter: Maddy SavageVideo Journalist: Benoit Derrier