BENGALURU: Students from Bengaluru have formed a team that is helping people find hospital beds, oxygen supply, plasma and ambulances over the past four days. With the help of various social media platforms, namely Twitter and Instagram, they are reaching out to patients in need.
Dhruv Jatti, founder of Bangalore Student Community (BSC), told TNIE that they are receiving over 200 requests for beds on a daily basis. So far, they have been able to find 36 beds due to the shortage in the system. The team of over 75 students are collecting information about the supply of treatment essentials by going through the information they find online and are verifying them before feeding it into their database. “We have a group of students gathering information.
They send it to the verification team and then directly connect the patient,” Dhruv added. Tarika Vijayanagar, the Social Media Head of BSC said that it has been a busy time. “I have been able to help patients with leads regarding beds and plasma. I feel that as a student and the youth of the nation, I am responsible for helping people out as much as possible. The Task Force has also been active 24/7 and its unbelievable how much help we have been able to provide to those in need,” she added.
“It’s been four days and I have seen the group working day and night to get that one bed, one injection, one plasma donor. I am trying to do my best because as a student, this is my responsibility. It gets really exhausting when you call 50 hospitals at a go and still can’t find any beds. We are bound to lose hope but we cant. We have seen our doctors working endlessly,” said Sonia Agarwal, another student who has been part of the team.
Anuraag Shyamsunder, a student of Jindal School of Global Policy said that although the country is in a bad shape right now, ther are still hopes of bouncing back. He said that being at the centre of the task force, it has been a humbling experience for him to make an impact and save lives. “I urge all students of the city, as well as the country, to join hands and fight the second wave head on,” he added.