RAJKOT: Smiles reappear on weary faces of Covid-19 patients and their relatives seeing a young man driving into the sprawling Chaudhary high school ground every morning. He carries hundreds of bottles of chilled
water on his scooter and starts distributing them to people, providing the much-needed respite from the blistering heat and frustrating wait for hours to get admission into the
Rajkot Civil Hospital.
For 33-year-old Nadeem Sevangiya, who has a rather forgettable tag of being
Gujarat’s first Covid-19 patient, the gratitude expressed by these hapless people is gratifying.
Sevangia, a resident of Jangleshwar area, had tested positive for the novel coronavirus on March 19, 2020, after returning from a foreign tour. He recovered after a fortnight of hospitalization.
“This second wave of Covid has been really cruel. People are painfully waiting in long queues and water is the basic requirement in this blistering heat. I have been distributing 600-700 bottles every day,” said Sevangiya, who has a factory making sewing machines in Kothariyanagar.
He has been running this free service with this partner Jayprakash Khushwah.
On an average, 50-60 vehicles including private vehicles and ambulances are lined up for three to four hours at any given time with patients awaiting hospitalization, some even seen with oxygen cylinders.
The school is located right behind the hospital.
Sevangiya now plans to start distributing tea at night. “The administration is now making arrangements for drinking water but I got a request that patients and their relatives don’t get tea during the night. I will soon start distributing tea at night to all people who are camping on the ground while their near and dear ones are under treatment in the hospital,” he added.
Tea stalls close due to night curfew after 8pm and Sevangiya will start making tea at his house for people.
Sevangiya lives in a joint family with parents, brother, wife and two children. In the last wave, Jangleshwar was the hotspot but this time there are very few cases in the area.
Sevangiya also donated plasma after recovering and helped the police and municipal corporation teams manage the situation in Jangleshwar area when it was a hotspot.