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GMCH alumni from Boston, Singapore raise funds, send PPE kits
Dr Rohan Bir Singh Dhaliwal and Dr Sahil Thakur sprang into action after reading a facebook post expressing concern over lack of PPE kits and masks
After a doctor, in a social media post, raised the alarm about the non-availability of PPE kits and N-95 masks for those working in Covid-19 screening OPDs at Sector-32 Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH-32), two GMCH alumni heeded the call and scrambled to help.
Within 24 hours, the two doctors, one from Harvard Medical School and the other from Singapore Eye Research Centre, raised more than ₹2.70 lakh to procure the PPE kits. The first lot of 200 PPEs and 250 N-95 masks are to reach the hospital by Wednesday. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kit refers to specific outfits or tools worn by workers for protection against various infectious elements.
On March 27, a senior resident, anaesthesia, at GMCH-32 wrote that he was posted at the Covid-19 screening OPD where no proper PPE kits were available. He said that authorities were informed on March 23, but “there’s no solution to this” and “while the OPD is running 24×7, there is no duty room or a changing room for health workers.”
Requesting people to mobilise money to arrange proper safety equipment for health workers, the doctor wrote “doctors will continue to serve patients with or without proper support from government.”
The post was shared by more than 500 people. When Dr Rohan Bir Singh Dhaliwal, an alumnus of GMCH-2009 batch came across the post, he and Sahil Thakur, another 2009 batch student of GMCH decided to do the needful.
Dhaliwal is an ocular immunology fellow at Boston’s Harvard Medical School and Thakur is an ocular epidemiology fellow at Singapore Eye Research Centre. “I chanced upon a Facebook post on March 27 morning wherein a senior resident attending probable COVID-19 patients in GMCH-32 had raised concern about non-availibilty of PPEs due to broken supply chains,” Dhaliwal said.
That is when Dhaliwal and Thakur started a fundraiser. They made an account on GoFundMe and Ketto.org donation website and within 24 hours, they had collected ₹2.75 lakh.
“We took the help of friends who are distributors of medical gear. In the first lot, we will provide 200 PPEs (100 PPE routine and 100 PPE full body suit) and 250 N-95 masks. It will reach the hospital by Wednesday,” Dhaliwal said. Many of those who have donated for the cause are alumni from GMCH-32 and we are hoping to meet the target of 1000 PPEs.”
Dr Ravi Gupta, medical superintendent at GMCH-32, said: “We have written to the Centre and placed an order for 5,000 PPE kits. Government officials are saying that they too are over-pressed and when a manufacturer contacted, he said that the labour has gone home.”
“I really appreciate the doctors from abroad who are helping us by providing PPE kits and N-95 masks. We are facing an extreme shortage and more people need to come forward and help,” Gupta said.
