Covid catastrophe in India

We are all appalled at the terrible situation in India where the lack of enough beds, ventilators and even oxygen to help those sick with Covid-19, as the daily cases passed 300,000 a day, has led to such loss of life.  And a third wave is expected once this second wave has passed.

The Challenge

Normal responses of donations via general emergency charities or Disaster Emergency Funds was not deemed adequate.  We wanted to make sure that any aid went directly to people in need.  The problem was NOW and the help needed to be given NOW.  We didn’t want to provide help which might arrive too late.

Fortunately, our daughter Rotary Club of Billericay Mayflower has links with the Rotary Club of Calcutta Visionaries, and there are personal links between Rotarian Rita Dasgupta of Billericay Mayflower and members of that Calcutta Club.

Using the same route as Billericay Mayflower enables funds to reach the right people at the right time so they could help provide support NOW. As of May 24, £2300 has already been raised and sent.

Breathe Again

A major initiative is taking place in Calcutta, where the Rotary Club of Calcutta Visionaries is working with a local group called Entrepreneurs of Kolkotta (EOK) to act where the need most urgently arises. 

Help the people of Calcutta "Breathe Again"

“Pledge today and make someone breathe again”  

The target is to raise over $1 million through this initiative, and there has already been an astonishing amount of aid provided, including:  

• 35 Bipap Ventilators, imported from Singapore by MCCIA and donated by them, were passed on to charitable & private hospitals across Calcutta within 24 hours of their arrival. The machines are already in use and helping to save lives.
• New Life saving Equipment is about to reach the Techno DAMA hospital and 24 new ICU Beds were operational in mid May.
• 13 new Critical care Covid beds are now operational at the Calcutta Heart Clinic & Hospital Society in Salt Lake, Kolkata with our support and another 20 newbeds were operational at end May.
• 31 new Critical Care Covid beds provided to Sri Jain Hospital under this project.
• 25 hospital beds enhanced to Critical Care Covid Beds at Anandalok Hospital, Salt Lake, Kolkata.
• 6 new ICU beds at the Liver Foundation Hospital, Sonarpur are expected to go live in last week of May 2021.
• 40 new beds at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Midnapore, of which 13 Critical Care beds were operational by May 20, and the remaining 27 beds by end May 2021.
• Life saving machines being provided to “Rotary Hospital, Purulia” with 10 beds converted to critical care.
• 10 ICU beds are planned for the Maharaja Agrasain Hospital –Siliguri.
• 55 New Bipap machines have been ordered for hospitals in need. 30 were allocated to hospitals in mid May. 25 more of these machines are expected by end May.
• 8 HFNO & 10 more Ventilators have been ordered.
• 16 oxygen concentrators installed - all in use. Another 10 concentrators expected to be added imminently
  
• Over 300 health care workers & Nursing staff have been provided to hospitals across Bengal.

This is Rotary at its best – clubs working together and with other organisations to solve a real problem in the best way possible.  We are proud to be supporting them as best we can.

Club members have responded magnificently so that in addition to the £500 which they voted to donate from club funds, members have also donated an additional £700 in personal contributions.  “Service Above Self”
We have also done what we can to publicise the need for more donations, by adding posts on Facebook and to the District members Group as information updates become available.   It must be doing some good, we have been contacted by a Rotary Club in Scotland who wanted to know more about the project.