VADODARA: A brutal accident left him physically immobile, but it couldn’t confine 60-year-old Sunil Desai’s mind to the bed that he has been tied to for 26 long years.
Desai had suffered a bus accident in Rajkot in 1994 and suffered severe injuries on his spinal cord. Hence he understands how difficult life must be for the old and infirm under lockdown.
Ever since the lockdown was enforced, Desai has been a busy man. His phone keeps ringing incessantly and he answers all calls promptly, offering whatever help is possible from his side to ease lives for the old and needy.
Desai has a team of volunteers and staffers of a care centre that he has been running for nearly a decade now. Whenever he gets a call for help, Desai contacts someone from his team and sends the volunteer to the needy person's house.
“My men visit their homes daily to clean up the premises, perform all chores they wanted done and also give them medicines. Even now we offer people the same services,” he said.
Bankim Gandhi, a resident of Nizampura whose mother, Sushila, has been bed-ridden had sought Desai’s help for all necessities of his ailing mother. “It would have been very difficult had we not got help from Desai’s care centre during the lockdown. The service provided by him has been of great help as the helper takes care of all the needs of my 77-year-old mother.”
“As someone who has been bed-ridden for decades now, I realised how difficult it is for people like me to get help. So I decided to start a centre that can help the old, ailing and bed-ridden people. The helper cleans these people, cooks for them and also gives them medicines,” Desai said.
Doctors had diagnosed him with quadriplegia following which Desai underwent a number of surgeries. But his condition didn’t improve and even leading him to think of approaching courts to request for euthanasia. However, he overcame it all and started the care centre.
“In fact, a few such bed-ridden elderlies’ are unfortunate when their kin aren’t too keen on helping them stay clean. Their condition would have worsened in the lockdown had we not offered them help in time,” said Desai.
He has given them letter that enables them to move around and help the needy. They produce the letter whenever cops intercept them. “However, the police have been more than co-operative now. I offer people all the help they require over phone,” he said.
Desai had suffered a bus accident in Rajkot in 1994 and suffered severe injuries on his spinal cord. Hence he understands how difficult life must be for the old and infirm under lockdown.
Ever since the lockdown was enforced, Desai has been a busy man. His phone keeps ringing incessantly and he answers all calls promptly, offering whatever help is possible from his side to ease lives for the old and needy.
Desai has a team of volunteers and staffers of a care centre that he has been running for nearly a decade now. Whenever he gets a call for help, Desai contacts someone from his team and sends the volunteer to the needy person's house.
“My men visit their homes daily to clean up the premises, perform all chores they wanted done and also give them medicines. Even now we offer people the same services,” he said.
Bankim Gandhi, a resident of Nizampura whose mother, Sushila, has been bed-ridden had sought Desai’s help for all necessities of his ailing mother. “It would have been very difficult had we not got help from Desai’s care centre during the lockdown. The service provided by him has been of great help as the helper takes care of all the needs of my 77-year-old mother.”
“As someone who has been bed-ridden for decades now, I realised how difficult it is for people like me to get help. So I decided to start a centre that can help the old, ailing and bed-ridden people. The helper cleans these people, cooks for them and also gives them medicines,” Desai said.
Doctors had diagnosed him with quadriplegia following which Desai underwent a number of surgeries. But his condition didn’t improve and even leading him to think of approaching courts to request for euthanasia. However, he overcame it all and started the care centre.
“In fact, a few such bed-ridden elderlies’ are unfortunate when their kin aren’t too keen on helping them stay clean. Their condition would have worsened in the lockdown had we not offered them help in time,” said Desai.
He has given them letter that enables them to move around and help the needy. They produce the letter whenever cops intercept them. “However, the police have been more than co-operative now. I offer people all the help they require over phone,” he said.
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