NBJK’s Initiatives to Respond against Novel Coronavirus
Right from the arrival of COVID-19 in March 2020 last year, Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra (NBJK) shouldered vital responsibilities in different districts of Jharkhand-Bihar to convert its eye hospital and school in quarantine centers for Migrant Labors, ensure medical utilities for Government hospitals/health centers, arrangement of Isolation Centers-Community Kitchens, distribution of dry food materials for weaker section-People with Disabilities and availability of potato-wheat seeds for migrant workers to promote farming as an optional livelihood etc.
Currently amid second deadly wave of this Covid pandemic 2021, NBJK immediately responded by establishing a Covid Care Center at its Loknayak Jaiprakash Eye Hospital situated at village Bahera, Chauparan block in Hazaribag district. The Center at village 50 kms from town, has 30 beds including 10 Oxygen supported beds and patients are being treated here Free including food, medicines, doctors, nurses, oxygen and other cares It has become a lifesaver for poor villagers, struggling for life, who could not get beds in government hospitals nor can afford high-fee of beds in Private hospitals.
Also, this LNJP Covid Care Center provides 24×7 Tele-counselling helpline (91992 81857, 90605 18393). The Covid-rural-patients who do not want to get admitted, are served in OPD and given FREE medicines. medicines and given with tele-medical consultation at OPD. All the services are free of cost to all patients, irrespective of districts or states.
Seeing the numbers of Covid patients on rise in villages in April-May 2021, NBJK also started Outreach Covid screening camps in remote villages- going with medical team, oximeter, IR Thermometer, and medicines. We checked the pulse oxygen level of patients in villages, because pulse oxygen level has been not available to anyone and reasons of high mortality rate of village patients was due to rushing to hospitals very late when oxygen level was going below 70. The patients with any symptoms were advised for free covid tests in our LNJP Eye Hospital at village Bahera and also immediately advised for taking hot water, steam, protienous food, immunity-boosters lemon water or kadha etc and also given medicines. We left one oximeter in the villages too with social leader or rural medical practitioners.
In our NBJK Coordination Office at Amritnagar, near Hazaribagh town in rural out-skirts, seeing no oximeter and steamer with villagers, we started giving these two on loan to all villagers coming for help. Who could not reach, getting phone call, our volunteers delivered them at home too.
NBJK has approached District Magistrate Hazaribagh to provide Silwar Polytechnic to establish a 50 beds Covid Isolation cum Care Centre with 50 beds, 30 beds will be Oxygen supported beds. We are hoping to make it functional in 1st week of June 2021.
In Chanho block of Ranchi district too, under HDFC Bank HRDP project villages, NBJK is campaigning vigorously upon prohibitory measures for COVID-19 and the workers provide IEC materials with practical knowledge over safety measures to the inhabitants there. This proved helpful to the people with least health facilities and taking the fever & cold-cough lightly, which was becoming life-taking reason.
In Patna-Bihar, we are working in 15 slums in which we are organizing Covid awareness camps, providing Oximeter, steamers, medicine kit to poor suffering with Covid symptoms and relief materials.
When asked about the motivation he gets from where, Mr. Satish Girija (Secretary, NBJK) talks about the horrors of Corona this time and mentioned regarding the people dying daily in lack of oxygen & beds at hospitals, how can we sit silently! He speaks with grief and expresses his initiative towards screening infected people at primary stage, to provide them proper treatment & support with awareness building.
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