As the disastrous surge in the daily number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infections caught the healthcare infrastructure of the country underprepared, support has been pouring in from around the world amid a huge shortage of essential medical supplies in the country.
Shyamli Badgaiyan, a student of Harvard Business School, is among those who quickly raised more than $160,000.
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Badgaiyan along with Priyank Lathwal, a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University, mobilised South Asian student organisations across her University and from 20 other universities, including Stanford, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown, MIT, Northwestern University, Tufts, and the University of Pittsburgh.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday appreciated the work done by Badgaiyan, who he said had worked with his office in Delhi. Commending her efforts to help the country, he tweeted, "Proud of Shyamli Badgaiyan, who had worked with my MP office in Delhi. Idealism & commitment never wear out!"
"I had been watching Covid-19 cases surge and been feeling terribly anxious and helpless,” Badgaiyan, who hails from Delhi, said. “I found myself thinking of ways to help from afar — an instinct I would later learn many students across the country were also feeling," she added, reported The Harvard Gazette.
{{/usCountry}}"I had been watching Covid-19 cases surge and been feeling terribly anxious and helpless,” Badgaiyan, who hails from Delhi, said. “I found myself thinking of ways to help from afar — an instinct I would later learn many students across the country were also feeling," she added, reported The Harvard Gazette.
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The student-led initiative is using a united platform to pool funds and pass them to organisations in India to augment the supply of oxygen, protective equipment, and other medical supplies. The initiative that was launched last week is working in collaboration with GiveIndia, an organisation that is partnering with NGOs authorised to supply equipment to hospitals and Covid care centres in the country. Funds collected by the group are disbursed by GiveIndia to their nonprofit partners for the supply of the resources.