By Suchitra Rao
The second wave of COVID brought about such a strain on the health infrastructure of the country, that it was up to the community and individuals to search and find life-saving medical resources. In this time of need, the entire Team of ILPians, including staff, Trustees and Volunteers collaborated with several organisations and forums to ensure that the demand and supply of critical care were streamlined. This gave an avenue to patients or their relatives to obtain scarce resources like oxygen, medicines, hospital beds, and home care for children/elderly etc. without having to navigate through a sea of unverified and standalone sources.
In collaboration with Surge Impact, 10 team members from India Literacy Project have been working round the clock to arrange medical assistance for COVID patients. They have worked on 100s of cases across Delhi, Telangana & Andhra Pradesh, putting in over 670 hours of work. The dedicated effort from our team helped resolve 70% of the cases but obstacles such as high prices & unavailability continued to impede this effort. It was a grueling few months and some of the stories were grim, some heartening but these times highlighted the fact that we’re all in this together!
A case from Ground Zero: Reaching out to the distressed living abroad at peak Covid second wave.
We received a panic call from a lady living in the USA, asking for help for her elderly parents in Hyderabad. Her father had been unwell for about two days and she felt utterly helpless and anxious being so far away from them. From teleconsultation with a doctor in Telugu which was hard to come by at a very busy time, to getting them tested for Covid, the team jumped into action to ensure that the couple got immediate medical support. Both tested positive, and an oxygen concentrator was quickly arranged for the father. Despite this, his condition deteriorated, so an ambulance was arranged and the Father was shifted to a railway hospital (he had retired as a doctor from this hospital a few years ago). Arrangements were also made for a care provider to stay with the Mother at home as she had a milder infection and for a nurse at the hospital to stay with him for a week, until his daughter landed in Hyderabad.
The elderly gentleman fortunately recovered, though was still dependent on the concentrator for some time, while his wife was able to recover at home.
With the help of ILP’s support for over two weeks of coordination of all resources and the required emotional support, the family is well on their way to total recovery.
Our ILP team members have been resolute and driven in their efforts during an unprecedented time, and have received certificates of appreciation!
Screenshot of a message received from the caretaker: