Prakash Yaduvanshi stood outside Parasia police station, waiting to record a statement on his son’s death. He clutched a folder of documents, including receipts from six dialysis sessions and discharge summaries from three hospitals.

“He was my only son,” said Yaduvanshi, who is from Parasia in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district. “There was no proper treatment in government hospitals. I had no option but to go to private hospitals in Nagpur.”

The decision to move his son to Maharashtra’s Nagpur, located almost 150 km from Chhindwara, was an expensive one. He spent Rs 7 lakh for his son’s hospital admissions and dialysis treatments, raised by selling his wife’s jewellery and borrowing from locals. Eventually, he could no longer afford dialysis.

Between August and October, at least 11

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