Mission Oxygen: How Swasth, the telemedicine app is crowdfunding to help hospitals save lives
New Delhi, Apr 26: As India is battling the resurging of COVID cases, Hospitals and healthcare providers are running out of resources in the fight against COVID-19 and the situation on the ground is dire. Hospitals urgently need more oxygen cylinders and concentrators to save as many lives as possible.
Oxygen is critically required to treat patients affected with COVID, many of whom require hospitalization due to fluctuating oxygen levels. However, there is a severe shortage of oxygen availability across hospitals in India.
Swasth, an app more than the telemedicine app, has started a crowdfunding campaigns acoss such as Milaap, Ketto and Impact Guru to help hospitals across the country get immediate access to oxygen concentrators.
Oxygen Concentrators are being sourced from multiple manufacturers and their distributors. India has little or no local manufacturing, so these are largely being imported. Some of the manufacturers Swasth work with include Yuwell, BPL, Medequip, Nidek, Sanrai depending upon who has availability at our time of need.
They are sourcing needs from across the country using a variety of networks of people on the ground. They will supply across the country and across a mix of institutions - govt/ private providers, various sizes of providers.
This will be based on a process of demand and supply matching with the principle of achieving maximum impact, rapidly. All details of demand, supply, the matching process and the final distribution will be made available in the public domain as transparent as possible.
Within a few hours, they have received the request for over 10,000 oxygen concentrators. The estimated need for India is almost ~200,000 oxygen concentrators. The campaign together is looking to raise $10M fund for the next 10000 oxygen concentrators and is still looking for individuals to contribute to the efforts.
Looking for oxygen concentrators? Here's how Swasth, the telemedicine app is helping India fight COVID-19The initial requirement is listed below:
Each high flow oxygen concentrator costs Rs. 85,000 and each low flow concentrator costs Rs 45,000.
• A high flow concentrator costs Rs.85000 / $1130 and treat up to 550 patients with a severe or critical illness.
• A low flow concentrator costs Rs.45000/ $600 and can treat up to 900 patients with mild to moderate illness
Here's How you can contribute:
Individuals in India: These contributions are eligible for tax benefits for Indian citizens under Sec 80G
a. Donate on Impactguru: https://www.impactguru.com/fundraiser/oxygen
b.Donate on Milaap: https://milaap.org/fundraisers/Donate-for-Oxygen
Individuals in other countries: Donate on Milaap: https://milaap.org/fundraisers/Donate-for-Oxygen. US citizens contributing >$1000 can avail tax exemptions for donations made on Milaap
Individual large grants from India or other countries: For grants > Rs.7,50,000 or $10000, please write to us directly at shubha@swasthapp.org
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be simply defined as the grants and funding process under which various Non-profit Organizations (NGOs) can get financial and other assistance from the corporate sector.
Organization based or CSR Funding: To contribute as an organization from India or other countries, please write to us directly at shubha@swasthapp.org
Long term partners: You can also partner with Swasth.app on its longer term mission in accelerating digital health tool adoption across India through open source products. Please write to shubha@swasthapp.org to learn more.
Soome of the FAQs answered:
So, when will the Oxyegn concentrators reach the providers?
So far, they have already commenced the process of distribution and this will continue on an on-going basis. Swasth have supply tie-ups lined up for procurement and will continue to increase orders as we raise funds. They do understand the providers needs on a weekly basis, including pre-empting needs for 4-6 weeks and are streamlining supply accordingly.
What about the logistics?
Logistics has two components: Import into India and Delivery to the actual location of use. Most suppliers will handle both. For very large orders, they are partnering with global logistics companies/airlines who are directly airlifting the products into India.
For delivery across India, they will typically use the supplier to fulfil. As far as the remote locations concerned, they do leverage local networks for these. So far, they have delivered to remote locations like Gadchiroli and Melghat in Maharashtra, Chikkaballapur in Karnataka, Ganjam in Odisha and Bilaspur in Chattisgarh using suppliers prior to the current wave.
How do I know what impact my contribution has?
They are extremely transparent on demand requests received, supply procured and the process of matching. You will be able to view where funds are being used at an aggregate level and therefore, the impact that your contribution is having. They will also publish impact reports in the public domain for the same.