Inside the sprawling compound of the Jamia Arabia Barkatul Islam Madrasa in Kheerwa village of Rajasthan’s Sikar district, 26-year-old Irfan Pathan makes his rounds from one room to another, clutching a handwritten list of medicines and checking on the condition of Covid-19 patients.
A nursing graduate, Pathan quit his job at a private hospital in Jaipur before heading back to his village Kheerwa to volunteer at the madrasa, which was styled as a private Covid-19 care centre catering to people from nearby villages about a fortnight ago.
There are around 10-12 patients staying at the facility, says Pathan. Before being turned into a Covid treatment centre, the madrasa was a residential school for over 400 students, he adds.
Officials said the state government has decided to allow the facility at the madrasa — set up through donations and where treatment is free — to function as a quarantine centre.
Laxmangharh sub-divisional officer (SDO), Kulraj Meena, said Kheerwa is among a cluster of 10 villages in the district from where the most cases were reported in the district. With more than 8,000 active Covid cases, Sikar is currently ranked fifth among districts with the highest number of active cases as people.
“After discussions between villagers and the administration, we decided to allow the facility at the madrasa to function as a quarantine centre. They are carrying out treatment with the medicines prescribed by the government for Covid-19. They even managed to improve a patient’s oxygen saturation from the 70s to 94 with an oxygen concentrator,” said Meena.
“We presently have one oxygen concentrator which is being shared by two patients. The government doctor from the nearest primary health centre (PHC) Kheerwa comes twice a day to check on the patients while I stay here the entire day to look after them and also administer medicines,” says Pathan.
He tended to Covid-19 patients in Jaipur for the past year but decided to return to Kheerwa, his village, when he found out that the madrasa needed trained volunteers to look after Covid patients.
The madrasa also has a lawn, where patients can exercise and catch fresh air.
The nearest government Covid care facility from Kheerwa is at the Jajod community health centre (CHC) — around 25 kilometres from the madrasa.
Run by the madrasa administration, the centre in Kheerwa has eased some of the burden of Jajod CHC, which is already full with patients, said SDO Meena.
The head of the Kheerwa centre, Maulana Hasan Mahmood Qazmi, says that while demand is increasing, a lack of medical oxygen supply is holding them back from opening their doors to more Covid patients. “The Covid centre in our madrasa is open to everyone irrespective of background or religion and treatment is free for all.”
