This NGO puts its two cents to ensure hospitals are well equipped to deal with crisis

RAHUL TAWAR | TNN | Apr 13, 2020, 07:12 IST

Ludhiana: When the lockdown was announced with four-hour notice, of the resultant chaos emerged many heroes — a large number of non-governmental organisations (NGO) and religious institution — who have pitched in by providing essential items to the needy and migrant workers during.
One such organisation is Samvedna Sewa Trust, which seems to be standing apart from the others by managing all essential medical logistics for all government as well private sector hospitals.
According to the manager of Samvedna Sewa Society, Jajpreet Singh, Samvedna has managed to provide more than 25,000 masks to all government as well private sector organisations as well as sanitised 4,000 establishments to ensure the safety of local citizens. The society is also providing personal protective equipment to all ambulance drivers of the government hospital.
“We are coordinating with the municipal cooperation to get across our services to those who need them more effectively.”
The society has also made sure the government as well private hospitals which are looking after the confirmed and suspected patients of Covid-19 have enough body bags to deal with dead bodies of the patients without spreading the disease further.
“We have arranged for more than 250 body bags. We also provided ambulance specifically for ferrying the dead-bodies of the deceased of Covid-19 by following proper safety measures,” said Singh to TOI.
In addition, members of this society have also provided their cars and jeeps to transport blood donors to different private as well government hospitals in the district. There is an acute shortage of blood supply as donation camps cannot be held due to coronavirus. The members are bringing local donors to blood bank of the civil hospital.
“We have been granted permission from local administration to bring local donors to civil hospital for blood donation while following safety norms. We also help private hospitals with blood requirement. If someone is willing to donate blood, members of our team will pick them up from their residences after ensuring they are safely equipped with masks and gloves and take them to civil hospital for donation and then bring them back home.”
Another member of the organisation, Rakesh Kumar said, “We have dedicated our ambulance and other medical equipment to Cov
id-19 patients as we feel there is a stigma around the disease and not many people are coming forward to help fearing for their lives. Our drivers are well equipped to handle corona patients. We also have dedicated helpline number for dealing with locals who are facing crises.”
The members also said they have tied up with several cremation grounds in the district to provide them with essential medical logistics to deal dead bodies of Covid-19 patients. “We are arranging for personal protective equipment to cremation ground staff who will be present during the last rituals of the dead patients,” said Kumar.
A local of Ludhiana, Ankita Verma said, “This kind of help is also appreciated. Most organisations are concentrating on providing food items to needy people. But medical logistics is equally important and someone should help hospitals, which are really under super pressure, too. Just think about how many lives might have saved just by ensuring the hospital gets its supply of blood.”