E-Paper
NRIs come together to fund rural Covid-19 care centre in Barhi
As spiraling cases of coronavirus infection in rural Jharkhand have put government officials on tenterhooks due to immense shortage of health infrastructure, a group of people hailing from Bihar and Jharkhand and settled in Australia extended financial help in setting up a Covid-19 care centre with 20 oxygen supported beds at Barhi subdivisional hospital
As spiraling cases of coronavirus infection in rural Jharkhand have put government officials on tenterhooks due to immense shortage of health infrastructure, a group of people hailing from Bihar and Jharkhand and settled in Australia extended financial help in setting up a Covid-19 care centre with 20 oxygen supported beds at Barhi subdivisional hospital.
Before this, there were merely 10 beds at the subdivisional hospital that were not enough to accommodate the increasing number of Covid-19 patients in the area, officials said. However, to deal with the crisis, an administrative officer took up the initiative of setting up a Covid-19 centre within a week with financial help from the non resident Indians. “Amid soaring cases, the number of patients in the hospital recently rose to 26. The new Covid care centre has provided great relief. Timely help from people of Bihar and Jharkhand living in Sydney saved many lives here,” said Arvind Devashish Toppo, circle officer of Barhi, whose initiative helped set up the centre.
The centre was established at the existing subdivisional hospital by minor modification in design. Now, there were a total of 30 oxygen-equipped beds at the hospital.
The Sydney group, named Bihar-Jharkhand Community Australia (BJCA), donated nearly ₹1.80 lakh for arranging infrastructure required for the Covid-19 centre, said the circle officer.
On being asked how he got to know about the BJCA, Toppo said one of his batch mates informed him about the group while he was looking for medical help for a friend’s mother. “One of my batch mates, Ashwini Kumar, who is an administrative officer in Bihar, told me about the BJCA, that has provided help in many places of Bihar. This group was in touch with Ashwini, and later its members Praveen Kumar and Manish Kumar from Australia ringed me and offered to help,” Toppo said.
Several rounds of virtual meetings ensued before the centre was set up in Barhi. “I communicated the plan to subdivisional officer (SDO) Kumar Tarachand and he readily agreed on the proposal,” Toppo said.
“We bought cots, mattress and other medical equipment for the centre with the fund provided by the BJCA. The centre was made operational on May 10 and around 20 Covid patients have been discharged from the centre in past nine days. Currently, there around seven patients undergoing treatment at the centre,” he said.
The BJCA also wanted to extend help in other parts of the state. “We are planning a similar kind of facility in tribal areas in Khunti or Godda. A plan will soon be outlined in this regard,” Toppo said.
People of Jharkhand who have settled abroad, mainly in the United States of America, are also extending helping hands to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. Jharkhand Civil Society member RP Sahi said one Harjit Singh and Gurdeep Ahluwalia, who live in the USA, have provided medical equipment, including oxygen concentrators, to some institutions and hospitals in the state.
