NGO launches 200-bed oxygen support camp for Covid patients

Gurgaon: An NGO that has been helping people in the city in need of medical oxygen get cylinders and also providing oxygen support to Covid patients with breathing distress has now opened a camp equipped with 200 beds to provide better care. The camp’s affairs are being managed by around 50 volunteers, several of whom work with IT companies and have taken a break to help diffuse the acute healthcare crisis the current wave of the pandemic has triggered.
Called ‘Oxygen Centre’, the camp has been built on rented land off Golf Course Road Extension in Sector 62.
Admission to the camp is free and volunteers said 70 people had already used the facility by Friday evening, less than 24 hours after it was opened on Thursday night.
The NGO — Hemkunt Foundation — said that the facility is not a parallel hospitalisation solution.
Instead, the walk-in camp is meant to provide support to Covid patients who need medical oxygen urgently and give time to their family members to look for a hospital.
While the facility has 200 beds, members of the NGO said it can provide support to 400 patients at a time. The capacity is handy because the city’s hospitals are swamped and getting admissions means a long wait that could run into several days. The camp also has a drive-through facility where people can park their vehicles and get immediate oxygen support. All they need to do is furnish a Covid report of the patient and get their oxygen saturation levels checked on the spot.
“We have been noticing that people lose crucial time in search of oxygen cylinders and ICU beds,” founder and CEO of Hemkunt Foundation, Irinder Ahluwalia, told TOI. “During this period, the condition of the patient worsens. We wanted to plug this gap and save people from anxiety and emotional breakdown while they are searching for medical help for their loved ones. Many people don’t even need hospitalisation and recover with oxygen support. But arranging medical oxygen is not easy. Our idea is simple — to support Covid patients till the time they manage to get medical help.”
As of now, the NGO is running the facility mainly on oxygen concentrators. It has tied up with various vendors in Gujarat and other states for oxygen cylinders. The camp also offers three meals a day to Covid patients. The NGO maintains that it doesn’t offer any other medical assistance like nursing, doctor consultations or ventilator support.
“Besides offering oxygen support, we also provide food and coconut water to people who are exhausted with all the running around to get medical support for their loved ones. We also counsel patients with mild or moderate illness,” said Inderpreet Singh, an engineer with an MNC who is volunteering at the camp.
The NGO claims several people have been offering donations to keep the initiative going. “Many people across the country and the international diaspora are ready to help. Several people who got support from us were able to save the lives of their loved ones. They express their gratitude in the form of donations,” Ahluwalia added.