Covid-19 shook India’s health infra: Helping hands from across the world saved lives

Many countries also came forward to help India emerge from the COVID-19 crisis.

COVID-19 cases began rising from across the world from mid- March 2021 and reached a record high till April 30th, 2021. India began to record more than 4 lakh cases of infection in a day. The maximum impact was seen in metros like Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan. While the cases of Corona infections rose steadily the scary part were the rising death rates which surged significantly which was more than the death rate than the previous year.

The entire backbone of the health infrastructure was shaken with the uncertainties of COVID-19. The second wave caused the entire health system to crumble down with the basic necessities such as beds and oxygen not being available for critical patients. While the whole nation was fighting this deadly diseases with the health workers constantly on their toes to help those suffering and even saving lives, this was just not enough. iHelp began to trickle in from all parts and sources where people began to raise an awareness amongst people to donate, NGO’s and Corporates pouring in more funds and even the Government adopting new strategies to admit those infected with the deadly COVID-19 virus.

People began to utilise digital platforms for not promoting themselves but causing an awareness of the lack of infrastructure in a particular region or raising funds. Celebrities from across the globe such as Priyanka Chopra began to create foundations and utilised their sources to raise funds from across the globe to help people in India. Oxygen Concentrators were made available well in time for many in the past few weeks all thanks to celebrities like Sonu Sood. Sonu also made a huge contribution in helping the migrant population in India. Important informations were circulated through WahtsApp and Facebook along with platforms such as Instagram. Central and State Governments were doing their best by introducing new lockdown strategies and awareness campaigns for people to be safe.

Apart from this, Reliance Industries Ltd and Tata Group also gave their participation to the country to emerge from this crisis. Reliance Industries Ltd promised to provide 100 tonnes of oxygen to the Maharashtra Government. At the same time, the Tata group decided to import 24 cryogenic containers to meet the oxygen shortage in the country. Many big pharmaceutical companies of the world and the largest e-commerce portals like Amazon also put forward a helping hand. Blackstone Group Inc. Chairman Stephen Swarzman’s Private Equity arm donated USD 5 million to India’s Coronavirus Relief Fund.

Many countries also came forward to help India emerge from the COVID-19 crisis. Countries including Australia, Germany, France, Ireland, Belgium, Romania, Portugal and Sweden came forward to help India. France announced to send oxygen production plants, ventilators and other medical supplies to help India. Romania has promised to send 80 oxygen concentrators, 75 oxygen cylinders.

It’s not how much you give but its when you give that matters. The world is a better place when lived cohesively as good partners who would exchange positive vibes of humanity.

(The author is President of Narayan Seva Sansthan. NSS is a non-profit organization serving differently abled and underprivileged individuals. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Financial Express Online.)