NEW DELHI: Shocked and saddened by the death of a 72-year-old woman who could not get an ambulance on time, a group of residents from Vikaspuri’s DG3 residential society has formed a ‘Covid Committee’ to help the pandemic-affected people with timely ambulance service, medicines and oxygen support.
A resident of DG3 society, Rajnish Bhaskar started the committee in April along with eight other members of the society.
Bhaskar, who is an advocate, said: “Our campaign began after the death of the woman 25days ago. She was Covid-positive and had fallen unconscious because of breathing difficulty. A few residents were able to arrange an ambulance after eight hours of effort. But it was too late; the elderly woman died on the way to the hospital.”
“Three days after the incident, I started a Covid Committee with eight members each from one block of the society to help our residents with the necessary facilities,” said Bhaskar.
The committee currently has 27 members and it has collected Rs 6 lakh donation to build an independent Covid care facility.
“We started our mission with the RTPCR test of all residents. We have tested nearly 150 residents. The testing is being managed by our member, Dr. Vipul Kumar Singh. To help us reach out to all residents as quickly as possible, we have started a 24x7 Covid helpline. The work has been divided into Covid testing, managing Covid calls, medicines, ambulance, delivery of goods & groceries,” said Bhaskar.
The committee also maintains a medical storeroom. Besides, it has oxygen cylinders, concentrators, PPE kits and masks.“We have hired two workers for delivering grocery items, dairy products and cooked foods to the Covid-affected families. As soon anyone tests positive, we inform all residents for their safety,” says Bhaskar.
The committee also arranges to dispose of the garbage from the positive person’s home in a manner suggested by doctors. “We have also bought a van and turned it intoan ambulance with a stretcher, and oxygen support for our residents,” he said.
Resident Bini Mol, a nursing employee of Ganga Ram Hospital, helps the committee in assisting Covid patients and an Indian Army doctor Karnal Prem Kumar provides online consultation for the residents with post-recovery and counseling.
Other members who work for this committee are Kamal Bhatt, Shamit Bidani, O P Arora, Dr Vipul Kumar, Dr Aditya Rawlani, S K Kapoor and Komal Sharma. The group provides free oximeter, Nebulizer, and all emergency Covid medicine for free to the needy. The society has eight blocks with 416 flats.