PUNE When you are in need of a bed, plasma donor or Remdesivir injection, if you find Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) helpline numbers always busy, don’t panic – “Help Riders” are on their way (once you call them).
The group has done work during the Kolhapur-Satara-Sangli floods in 2019.
“People are facing many problems in finding beds, plasma donors and now the Remdesivir injection. They had complaints that they could not reach the PMC helpline number. So, we began this initiative,” said Prashant Kanojia, who founded the group.
Since last one month 150 Help Riders’ members are actively working in the PMC area helping people with the Corona crisis.
Help Riders receive 350 to 400 calls a day, on average, for bed availability, plasma donors and the Remdesivir injections.
When Help Riders receive a call from a patient or a relative – a volunteer sends them a form to fill in with basic details listed. Volunteers get in touch with hospitals and once the hospital agrees on availability of the bed, for example, they connect the patient with the hospital.
“When we started we knew we will not be able to help all who call us, but even if we are not able to fulfil their requirement we are calming them down. After hearing their health issues, if we feel a patient is switching to panic mode we console him or her first… because finding a bed has been really difficult in the last one week,” said Anupam Shah, a travel agent by profession and member of Help Riders.
{{/usCountry}}“When we started we knew we will not be able to help all who call us, but even if we are not able to fulfil their requirement we are calming them down. After hearing their health issues, if we feel a patient is switching to panic mode we console him or her first… because finding a bed has been really difficult in the last one week,” said Anupam Shah, a travel agent by profession and member of Help Riders.
{{/usCountry}}Volunteers make sure they also reply to missed calls.
“We are in touch with 70 per cent of the blood banks in the city and most are running short of plasma donors. We are trying our best, but things are getting difficult,” added Shah.
“We are one medium for people to get connected with PMC administration and hospitals. Many patients are suffering due to the dashboard not maintained properly. PMC should improve on this front,” said Kanojia.
Along with Pune, the group is also active in Pimpri-Chinchwad and Aurangabad.
Social organisations, politicians get in on the goodness
The Bharatiya Jain Sanghtana is also one of several organisations in the city that are lending families afflicted with Covid-19 a helping hand with – be it with vaccination, getting a hospital bed or testing.
Founder of the Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana, Shantilal Mutha, said, “We are helping with testing, vaccination and increasing bed capacity. We have also made some suggestions to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray based on our last one year’s experience.”
Political workers are trying to help in their individual capacity.
MNS corporator Vasant More, with the help of doctors, started a Covid care centre at a Katraj hotel.
Congress leader Aba Bagul, also with the help of doctors, started the Covid care hospital at the Ganesh Kala Krida auditorium.
“Youth - the Power to Change” and Vande Mataram are two youth organisations whose volunteers are helping out Punekars in these tough times.
Advocate Rohan Shetty and his team of youth are working round the clock.
“We have made different teams for various works, like one team was only working on getting Remdesivir for patients who contacted us. We are also working along with a few hospitals and Covid care centres. When a patient comes to the hospital to get treatment, our volunteers guide them in thhe proper way to connect with the doctor for treatment,” said Shetty, who heads
Youth groups not to be left behind
“Most relatives call for plasma and we arranged plasma donation camps and also maintain a data base of people who tested positive and now are able to donate plasma. With all this we are just trying to help the needy,” adds Shetty.
The Vande Mataram organisation has gone one step ahead. They have a data base from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) of positive patients in the last three months.
“When the patient is serious, most of the times plasma is needed and currently there is a shortage of plasma donors. So we collected this data from PMC and now, as per the requirement of plasma, we contact the donor and arrange it for the patient,” said Vaibhav Wagh, president of the organisation.
Now to make it a mass movement, organisation has setup a dedicated call centre for plasma donors.
“We want to become a connect between the donor and patient through this initiative and try to save as many as lives possible,” added Wagh.
Vande Mataram plasma donation call centre
8329767084 / 9168999958
How to reach Help Riders
In PMC
For Plasma
Prashant Mahanwar 9970802999
Prakash Shinde 9960227894
Purushottam Dangi- 9890523821
For hospital bed
Anupam Shah 9890934413
Rohit Borkar 9075808997
Prashant Kanojia 9850523999
For Remdesivir
Niranjan Shivarkar 7507589294
Amar Bhosale 8623077343
In PCMC
Aniket Prabhu 9767976730
Alternate numbers in an emergency (PMC/PCMC)
Sourabh Bhilare 7276086412
Ajit Jadhav 9890021010
Sudin Jayappa 9850825252
Pravin Pagare 942253212
Darshan Kirad 9623799090