Ahmedabad: Friend in Covid-19 need is a friend indeed

AHMEDABAD: When Vijay Dabhi was going to Chakliwalu Delu in Dariyapur wearing a PPE kit, he was not a health worker — he had donned the protective gear so that he could deliver meals to his friend Pratik Prajapati.
Dabhi, who runs an NGO for animal welfare, got a call from Prajapati, a post department employee, on May 2 about the hospitalization of his mother at SVP Hospital due to Covid-19.
A few days later, Prajapati lost his father in a non-Covid ailment.
“I have known Pratik, who is a few years elder to me, since childhood. I live in adjoining Hanumanwali Pol. He had helped me a lot in my studies. I felt it was my duty to help him. Thus, I decided to provide him meals during the lockdown. There was protest from the area, but I was adamant. As I was working with veterinary organizations, procuring PPEs was not an issue for me,” said Dabhi, who provided Prajapati meals for close to a fortnight till alternative arrangement could be made.
“I have done what any friend would have done in such a condition,” Dabhi said.
“My only request to the society at large is: Don’t stigmatize the patient or the condition. The numbers may rise or fall, but we must stay together and never let the family feel that they have been alienated. It will be a great help.”