While many of us battened down the hatches and prepared to ride out the second Covid wave, this mother-daughter duo, like so many other newly minted heroes in the Capital, decided to do what they can to help. Supriya Malik, founder of Indulgeo Essentials, and her daughter Sahria Malik, 11-year-old student of Pathways World School Aravali, have started an initiative called The Covid Medicine Recycle to help Covid- 19 patients with medical supplies.
Supriya’s company uses all-natural and organic compounds to deliver custom made skin and hair care solutions. “My daughter helps me run the digital aspect of my skin care brand and is, therefore, allowed two hours a day on social media. A couple of weeks ago, Sahria saw umpteen numbers of messages asking for medicines on social media. “She asked me if we could do something about it. I wondered how we could use our network and that’s how we came up with this initiative,” shares Supriya.
The duo then began picking up unneeded medicines from recovered Covid-19 patients and employed the logistics of Indulgeo Essentials to make the supplies available to people who needed them. However, they are not buying medicines to give to the people, but instead, collecting extra or leftover medicines from people all over India post their recovery, and facilitating it to reach the people in need.
From Fabiflu to Medrol and Crocin to vitamin tablets, they have also received thermometers, oximeters and nebulisers.
“In our first collection, eight people stepped forward and gave us pills. Later, more joined the initiative and in two weeks we received over 3,200 tablets from over 38 people” says Supriya.
Their first set of medicines was sent to a gurdwara in Agra that had been running oxygen langars. Over 900 medicines were also provided to a health camp for the underprivileged in Gurugram called Nagrik Ekta Manch. In just two weeks, they have been able to collect medicines to provide for needy individuals in Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.
The initiative has also received participation from students of St Stephens College, who collaborated with them to create a database of donors and beneficiaries. “In these difficult times, no matter how privileged or underprivileged the person is, they should not struggle to find resources.
Instead of just verifying leads for somebody, I thought of providing them with what they need,” says Sahria, adding, “Thankfully, with my mom and her entire team who is helping me with the logistics and the communications, we have been able to help many people who were struggling to get medications.”
If you are a Covid survivor and you would like to donate your leftover medications, please contact on Instagram: covidmedication.recycle or WhatsApp: +917042780014 and the logistics will be managed for you.