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Oxygen, ambulance, medicines: Delhiites rally for Covid emergencies
Covid-19 new wave is seeing many residents of Delhi-NCR come forward and help address desperate pleas for assistance with hospital beds or oxygen cylinders, and some are even performing the last rites of those Covid positive, whose kin abandoned them.
As the Capital grapples with the new wave of Covid, various groups in the city are endeavouring to help Covid patients and their families with medical needs such as prescribed and over the counter medicines, oxygen and more while tackling a sea of SOS calls and messages!
Free ambulance service for Covid patients
“I once went to a cremation ground last year and was sad to see that there was no one to perform the last rites of those who died due to Covid. I then decided to start this service,” says Delhi-based businessman Charanjeev Malhotra, who started an NGO Sant Shiv Seva, and has been running a free ambulance service in the Capital, which has ferried hundreds of people.
“We take Covid-19 patients to hospitals and have also informed cremation ground authorities that if no one claims the bodies then we will perform the last rites. We are not charging anything for our services. I’ve performed the last rites of more than 550 Covid positive individuals till now,” says Malhotra, who had also travelled to Haridwar for asthi visarjan of 317 people this March.
Oxygen cylinders for free to those in need
People in Delhi have been resorting to social media and making desperate calls around the city to find oxygen for Covid-19 patients. It was the struggle of ordinary citizens last year that inspired Mohammed Nauman, a businessman, to start providing oxygen cylinders for free to those in need.
Nauman, a member of Delhi-based Asma Esa Foundation, says, “During the second wave, we have ramped up our services across Delhi-NCR, and have over a 100 oxygen cylinders in circulation. In the last month, on an average, we have been getting about 50 calls every hour, and it’s heartbreaking when we are unable to respond to everyone.” The foundation has a core team of eight members and around 60 volunteers around the city. “We have been speaking to various oxygen cylinder vendors to try and source oxygen and deliver it to the patients’ homes. This is a tough time and we are just trying to do our bit for the society,” adds Nauman.
Youngsters to rescue
Ankush Periwal barely gets any sleep these days because his phone keeps ringing with SOS calls from families of Covid patients, seeking information or help. Part of a team of youngsters who started #TaskForceCorona, he and his team have been providing medicines to those in need. “We provide assistance on the ground with food and medicines. We have a team of 60 dedicated volunteers who search for authentic information on hospital beds, ventilators, oxygen vendors and plasma donors for coronavirus patients,” he says, adding, “We are trying to provide relief to people so that they don’t have to call multiple people during their time of need. We have divided ourselves into various groups, each of which performs one task including arranging plasma, food, hospital beds, RT-PCR tests and ambulance services.”
The group recently distributed essential medicines and face masks in the Capital with the help of Assistant Commissioner of Police (UT) Lakshya Pandey. “We are ordinary citizens trying to do our bare minimum. Only when we help each other, will we be able to fight this pandemic,” says Periwal.
Author tweets @bhagat_mallika
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