Ayub Khan (45), a DMK functionary in the district, is busy these days, not with party activities, but in performing the last rites of people who died of COVID-19.
So far, he said, he had performed the last rites of 62 persons from the district, including 16, who died last year. At a time when there was a fear even among many relatives of the deceased, which forced the civic and health authorities to keep the bodies in mortuaries, the courage and patience shown by Mr. Khan have come in for appreciation. “The social media posts have come as a fillip and are motivating me,” he noted.
After learning about it, he said that his 19-year-old son Raja too joined him. Also, a bunch of youngsters, who enquired about it, also are into the service.
TMMK cadres in Thoothukudi district had recently launched an auto-ambulance for the benefit of COVID-19 patients. In Tirunelveli district also, the cadres had been helping in performing the last rites for the dead due to COVID-19 complications.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent/ Sivaganga – June 07th, 2021
Dr Muhammad Yazin is a member of the Covid control room at Vattiyoorkavu
Thiruvananthapuram :
A few days ago, Dr Muhammad Yazin and his team at the Covid control room run by Vattiyoorkavu MLA V K Prasanth broke into a house. Their intentions, however, were honourable. A call had come from a 55-year-old Covid positive woman and she had fallen so sick that she couldn’t even open the door eventually leaving the medical team with no other option that breaking the door open. “We could save two patients, the woman and her 95-year-old mother. They were shifted to ICU at the medical college hospital, we hope they will recover,” says Yazin who has so many similar experiences to recount, including dealing with a snake in the house of a Covid patient.
The 26-year-old doctor, a former student of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, was working at a private hospital in Coorg till recently.
He quit the job to work with the medical team without any remuneration. This is not the first time he is volunteering.
During the 2018 floods, he had joined the same medical team as a student. That was just the beginning.
Later in 2019, when many people were buried alive in a massive landslide at Kavalappara near Nilambur, Dr Yazin was there with the medical team.
Also, he was among the volunteers when Cyclone Ockhi hit the coast in Thiruvananthapuram.
Besides volunteers and nurses, there are four doctors in the medical team of the Covid cell at Vattiyoorkavu. “We provide tele-consultation for the patients. Medicines are sent through the volunteers of the rapid response team. Our team consisting of a doctor, a nurse, and a volunteer also visit patients needing home care. We would shift them to hospitals if required. Our schedule is not at all hectic . We usually work for eight hours,” Dr Yazin adds.
“I had tested Covid positive while working in Coorg. After getting cured, I rejoined duty and resigned two days after knowing about this initiative. After having worked together during the flood and now, the team has become just like a family,” he says.
In the future, Dr Yazin is expecting to be a part of the medical team of Vattiyoorkavu Youth Brigade, an initiative of MLA Prasanth. The plan is to focus on the economically weaker sections. How about earning something to live? “Well , I plan to work in a private clinic and side by side find time for voluntary medical service,” he says.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Thiruvananthapuram News / by TNN / June 11th, 2021
Working in place of his father in the pandemic, Shabir Ahmed, 24, says he has done 60-70 cremations in the last nine months.
Some of the Covid victims were also security personnel, mostly CRPF constables, who hailed from other parts of the country. (Representational Photo | PTI)
Srinagar :
A ‘chowkidar’ of a cremation ground in Srinagar is going beyond his brief to help grieving non-Muslim families in completing the final rituals of their beloved ones who succumbed to Covid-19.
Working in place of his father in the pandemic, Shabir Ahmed, 24, says he has done 60-70 cremations in the last nine months.
“I have been working at my father’s place and my job is 24×7. My job is to keep watch of the cremation ground,” said Ahmed.
“Some of the bodies were of non-locals, who had no family members in the Valley and were brought by the police.”
Some of the Covid victims were also security personnel, mostly CRPF constables, who hailed from other parts of the country.
“The government is making arrangements to bring family members of such victims to Srinagar for attending their last rites.”
There are two more staff both pujaris (priests) in the cremation ground at the cremation ground managed by Sanathan Dharam Trust in Srinagar’s Batamaloo area.
“I make arrangements of firewood and other items. I am doing it on humanitarian grounds as we need to be with each other in this testing time when Covid is snatching our loved ones,” said Ahmed who is yet to get PPE kits. Asked whether there was opposition from his family, Ahmed said, “No. In fact, many families praise my services and tell me that ‘I am doing punya ka kaam’ (charity work).”
“As doctors and frontline health workers have been working round the clock since last year to save precious lives, I am doing my bit in fighting the coronavirus with my efforts,” he added.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by Fayaz Wani, Express News Service / June 07th, 2021
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has seen unprecedented number of cases and deaths during the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic
Bareilly , UTTAR PRADESH / Jubail, SAUDI ARABIA :
Rehan Alam Siddiqui
Aligarh:
At a time when universities across the country are been adversely affected by the pandemic, Rehan Alam Siddiqui, a Non Resident Indian (NRI) based in Jubail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has donated Rs 15 lakhs to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to set up an oxygen generation plant at its Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC).
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has seen unprecedented number of cases and deaths during the second wave of Coronavirus pandemic which is yet to be brought under control.
As per the last update , as many as 18 working faculties besides a number of other retired professors and serving employees have become victim of the deadly virus so far.
“Alarming death toll”
The alarming death toll has sent shock-waves leading to apprehensions that a deadlier ‘AMU strain’ of the virus is wreaking havoc. It was also reported that for the first time in the history of the university, the AMU cemetry is running short of space and old graves are now being dug up to bury the dead.
Against this backdrop the university had issued appealed to the government and other public and private organisations and individuals for help and support.
True well wisher of AMU”
Rehan Siddiqui obliged and donated the huge sum to his alma mater. Extending gratitude on the largesse, AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof Tariq Mansoor said:
“Mr Rehan is a true well wisher of the university, whose donation will be very beneficial to upgrade the existing health infrastructure for an effective Covid Response”.
“We at AMU are making all possible efforts to contain the spread of this pandemic and Mr Siddiqui’s donation will go a long way in serving the sick and the distraught with the lifesaving oxygen supply”, he added.
Born and brought up in a middle-class family in Bareilly (UP), Rehan Siddiqui has emerged as one of the fastest growing businessmen and industrialists in the Eastern Region of KSA.
Rehan Siddiqui is promoting better relations of the Indian community with the Indian consulate in KSA. He also organises cultural and academic programmes.
“Rs 3L donation by TSA”
In another development, members of the Technical Staff Association (TSA), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) donated Rs 3 lakhs to facilitate Medical Attendance Scheme (MAS) to purchase equipments to be used for the treatment of registered employees and to strengthen the MAS Covid Response team.
The cheque was handed over to the university officials after the TSA members, Faisal Rais (TSA President), Abid Ali Zaidi (TSA Secretary General) and Kamran Husain (TSA Treasurer) met the Vice Chancellor, Prof Tariq Mansoor and Registrar, Mr Abdul Hamid (IPS).
source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> India / by ummid.com News Network / May 31st, 2021
Thaikkadappuram (Neeleswaram Municipality), KERALA :
Madrassa and the Thaikadappuram Jama-ath Mosque. Photo by R Ayyappan
Since early March, when the vaccination drive began, municipality and health authorities were worried about the crowd in front of Thaikkadappuram Family Health Centre (FHC) along the coast in Kasaragod’s Neeleswaram Municipality. More than 350 people, most of them over 60 years of age and years of age and with comorbidities, came for vaccination daily to the Centre that was only recently elevated to a FHC.
But at that point, when Kerala was gearing up for an intense election campaign, there was a general impression that COVID-19 was on the wane. It was easy to brush aside worries.
However, when the second surge began in the middle of April, old worries returned. When the rains intensified by the second week of May, more space became a necessity.
“Along with those coming for vaccination, there were the regular patients. When it is windy and raining, which was almost always during the last fortnight, we could not let them stand outside. But it was also not right to let these two groups mingle,” said Dr Sarada, the FHC’s medical officer. Most were poor folk from the fishermen community.
Interiors of the madrassa being rearranged for the vaccination drive. Photo from R Ayyappan
Social distancing paradise
She asked the municipality for a place nearby to carry out the vaccination drive so that social distancing could be adhered to effectively. Many places, including an aided school, were identified. But all were slightly distant. “We wanted a place nearer,” Dr Sarada said.
It was then that the Muslim League’s Thaikadappuram Sea Road ward councillor Anwar Sadique suggested a madrassa nearby: Thaikadappuram Jama-ath Nusrath Madrasa of the Thaikkadappuram Jama-Ath Mosque. It is a large two-storeyed structure near a newly constructed beige-coloured mosque with pastel green domes.
Anwar talked to Neeleswaram Municipality chairperson T V Santha and vice-chairman P P Muhammed Rafi, both from the CPM. All three agreed the Nusrath Madrassa, run by the Thaikadappuram Jama-ath Committee, was the right place. It was near and spacious. Importantly, the Jama-ath members were were progressive.
Secular abode
“Last year, they had willingly agreed to convert the ‘madrassa’ into a quarantine centre for migrant labourers and those returning from the Gulf,” Anwar Sadique said. “We did not use it as the need did not arise then,” he said.
This time when they asked, the Jama-ath committee was more than willing. “We did not think twice when the health and municipality officials came to us with the request,” Jama-ath secretary A Mohammed Shafi, a retired postmaster, said. “The children were not coming anyway, of COVID. But even if there were classes, we had more than enough space in the building to accommodate the children,” Shafi said.
The Jama-ath has now left the entire ground floor, over 2000 sq ft, for the vaccination drive. “It is a large space of five classrooms and we have asked them to use all our facilities,” Shafi said. Dr Sarada said that the madrassa had enough room and chairs for people to be seated at a safe distance from each other. “It has a drinking water facility and also parking space,” she said.
The madrassa is also just a five-minute walk from the FHC, diagonally across the road from it. “It is easy to carry supplies from the FHC to the madrassa,” Dr Sarada said.
Thaikadappuram Jama-ath Nusrath Madrassa. Photo from R Ayyappan
Melting pot of faiths
The Jama-ath is particular that its gesture should not be seen as some kind of a favour. “We have told Jama-ath members not to exhibit any behaviour that could even remotely be considered as patronising or dominating. People from all faiths come for vaccination and we want all of them to feel at home here,” secretary Shafi said. “Moreover, there is nothing more holy than this. It is our duty. It does not cost us any money either,” he said.
The Jama-ath members were also not comfortable with a public function to mark the handing over of the ‘madrassa’ for the vaccination drive. “We didn’t want such a function but the municipality authorities lovingly insisted,” Shafi said. A small function, with municipal councillors and health workers in attendance, was held on May 25.
The Nusrath Madrassa will be used for the first time on May 29, when the FHC has scheduled 300 shots. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, during his customary sunset briefing on May 27, spoke of the Thaikadappuram model as an example of religious generosity.
source: http://www.onmanorama.com / OnManorama / Home> News> Kerala / by Ayyappan R / May 28th, 2021
As many as six graduates have volunteered to work with the MHV, attending calls and assisting the needy.
Vijayapura (Bijapur), KARNATAKA :
For representational purposes
Vijayapura :
A 33-year-old techie from Vijayapura has set up a 24X7 helpline to assist Covid-19 patients in finding beds, oxygen cylinders and medicines. Zahoor Kazi, who works as a software engineer at a private firm in Bengaluru, started ‘Mercy Helpline Vijayapura’ (MHV) on May 14 in collaboration with doctors, activists and other software engineers.
As many as 10 doctors, settled abroad (the USA, the UK and the Middle East) and in the state, have agreed to provide free tele-consultation to the patients, mainly for those in home isolation.As many as six graduates have volunteered to work with the MHV, attending calls and assisting the needy. The team has set up a helpline number — 7848025025.
The MHV works round-the-clock and, on an average, receives 30 calls each day from Vijayapura, Bagalkot and Belagavi. It also collaborates with at least five NGOs that help people by supporting them financially in paying hospital bills, supplying grocery kits, cremating unclaimed bodies of Covid victims and other help related to Covid and black fungus.
Speaking to TNIE, Zahroor Kazi, said, “Our main objective is to help the needy in such tough times. We are working in coordination with district officials. We are also creating awareness on Covid-19.” The MHV has so far helped at least 15 patients in getting oxygen beds and about 10 people in getting ventilators. Also, 10 patients have availed the free tele-consultation services.
“Most people who call us are from urban areas. We want to reach out to those in villages too as they have limited knowledge of the disease. Now, frequency of calls to MHV has reduced owing to a dip in cases,” Kazi added.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Mahesh M Goudar / Express News Service / May 29th, 2021
The 41-year-old, Akhbar Ali, distributes them from the very cart on which he sells vegetables from early morning to 10 am daily.
Bagaha (West Champaran District) , BIHAR :
41-year-old, Bihar vegetable hawker, Akhbar Ali, istributes facemasks and hand sanitizers for free among the poor people and labourers (Photo | EPS)
Patna :
A vegetable hawker now turned humanity-server now distributes facemasks and hand sanitizers for free among the poor people and labourers at Bagaha, in Bihar’s West Champaran district.
He was moved from within at the sight of a poor man picking up a used face mask that was dumped at a roadside.
The 41-year-old, Akhbar Ali, distributes them from the very cart on which he sells vegetables from early morning to 10 am daily.
“I called that man and asked why he had been picking up the mask. He told me for wearing on his face as he wanted to live in this world safely from Corona. And his this line moved me so much that I decided to distribute free masks and sanitizer from my cart among the poor people and labourers”, Ali said. The next day he went to the market, bought facemasks and hand sanitizers and started roaming with the items on his hand-pulled cart across the market.
“I used to go where the migrant labourers came to work and the poor people lived in the town daily after 11 am to evening. Wherever I see the poor people without facemasks, I offer them free of cost and advise them to wear it for safety:” he said.
He sells masks and other Corona safety-related items to people who can afford to pay for them but gives them away for free to poor people and labourers.
He said that 50% of the total income he earns from vending vegetables is utilised for purchasing masks and sanitizers for poor people. Ali is simply only able to write and read his name but he said: “In the earning a human-being, both the country and the poor people have equal natural share and one must dedicate the share of ‘watan’ and ‘garib’ as an act of prayer to Allah”, he said.
He has Hindi signs on display at his cart. One saying “Yahan free masks garibo aur majduro ko milta hai’ (“Here mask free of cost is given to poor and the labourers”) and some others with messages in Hindi asking people to maintain social distancing.
“From vegetable hawker to humanity server, Ali has become here a name among the destitute and poor people, who seek face masks from him free”, Munna Kumar, a labourer, who was given a pair mask recently said.
Ali estimates that till date more than 10,000 masks and sanitizers from his earning have been distributed among the poor people and the labourers at Bagaha.
“Now, I sell vegetables till 10 am and thereafter go out with cart carrying masks and sanitizers to the poor people in the town”, he said.
“Wherever I saw a poor man even on a bus without mask, I run towards him with a mask to give. I will keep serving the poor people-‘garib’ (poor) and “majduro” (labourers) till the corona continues”, he said.
He has been doing it silently with a line of Mahatma Gandhi “the greatness of humanity is not being human but is being humane’
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by Rajesh Kumar Thakur, Express News Service / May 29th, 2021
Milan Rafiq, who runs an old furniture shop in Hiriyur town, is not allowed to park his Maruti Omni in front of his house, and neither do his neighbours visit him.
Milan Rafiq (inset) and the vehicle he uses to ferry bodies of Covid victims
Chitradurga :
Milan Rafiq, who runs an old furniture shop in Hiriyur town, is not allowed to park his Maruti Omni in front of his house, and neither do his neighbours visit him.
For he has converted his Omni into a hearse, and ferries bodies of Covid patients to graveyards and crematoriums. He also completes the last rites, and has cremated and buried more than 200 bodies, of which around 80 were of Covid patients. His aim is to give people a final dignified departure, surprising at a time when friends and families are known to abandon both the living and dead.
“Covid has killed humanity. People are not ready to take care of their near and dear ones, including ailing parents on their deathbeds,” said Rafiq. He saw disowned bodies lying in the mortuary of Hiriyur Taluk Hospital, and it disturbed him so much that he decided to take on the last duties himself, irrespective of caste, creed and religion. He doesn’t charge any money, only accepting whatever is given to him, which he uses for the next burial or cremation.
“Before taking the body, I ask the family to get the grave dug, so we can bury the body and close the grave. On an average, I cremate two bodies every day. On Sunday, I cremated four bodies in Chitradurga and Hiriyur,” Rafiq told The New Indian Express.
His has carried out cremations in Chitradurga, Bengaluru and Kolar districts, ferrying bodies from Bengaluru to Kolar, and Madhugiri in Tumakuru. At a time when ambulances charge exorbitant rates, Rafiq just asks where the body should be ferried and sets out in his Omni. The cost of petrol and repairs is met by his group of friends, standing solidly behind him ever since he took up these humanitarian duties.
“I am also using my fixed deposit, I cannot ask families for money when they are in pain. It would be a sin,” he said.
Rafiq’s wife Shahtaj Begum, son Mohammed Zubair and son-in-law Mohammed Ali support him and even help him with the last rites. They wear masks and PPE kits, and sanitise the Omni after work is done. He cites a recent ordeal where there was no one to give them even a glass of water.
“My son, son-in-law, and I conducted the last rites and drank water only after returning to Hiriyur,” he said. Rafiq freely gives his number — 7259859407 — for anytime, anywhere burials and cremations.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by G Subhash Chandra, Express News Service / May 25th, 2021
The first plant is expected to be up and running in Hyderabad next month,” Prof Amirullah Khan, coordinator of Sahayata Trust informed. — IANS
The NGO is also receiving 400 high quality oxygen concentrators from different charities in the United Kingdom and the United States which is described as the world’s largest donation of oxygen concentrators.
Hyderabad :
Sahayata Trust, a Hyderabad-based NGO, plans to set up four medical oxygen generation plants to cater to the requirements of hospitals treating Covid patients.
Each plant will have a capacity of 4,500 litres per day and will come up at a cost of Rs 1 crore each. Two plants will come up in Hyderabad and one in Gujarat. The NGO is yet to decide on the location for the fourth plant.
“The first plant is expected to be up and running in Hyderabad next month,” Prof Amirullah Khan, coordinator of Sahayata Trust, told IANS on Monday.
The development economist said the NGO would be importing the plants. He said these plants would meet the requirements of various hospitals treating Covid or other critically ill patients.
He pointed out that the NGO is also receiving 400 high quality oxygen concentrators from different charities in the United Kingdom and the United States. He described it as the world’s largest donation of oxygen concentrators.
The devices will be allocated on a per-need basis to different NGOs across Hyderabad, Lucknow, Allahabad, Delhi, Ranchi, Bhopal and other cities. — IANS
The first consignment comprising 170 devices arrived in Hyderabad from the UK by a special flight of Qatar Airways on Friday. The second consignment of 270 concentrators is scheduled to arrive next week.
Sahayata Trust has started distributing concentrators to different healthcare organisations in Telangana and other states. “The relief effort will add oxygen to the efforts of NGOs scrambling to procure oxygen to save as many lives as they can,” said Sahayata Trust CEO Syed Aneesuddin.
The devices will be allocated on a per-need basis to different NGOs across Hyderabad, Lucknow, Allahabad, Delhi, Ranchi, Bhopal and other cities. The organisation included Access Foundation, Safa Baitul Maal and SDIF.
Different NGOS across international borders have joined hands for the noble cause at a time when several lives are being lost across India due to shortage of oxygen cylinders and oxygen concentrators during the second wave of Covid-19.
Donation of concentrators is a meticulously coordinated relief effort by UK-based charities managed by the Indian diaspora including Maahir Charity, Deccan Medical College Alumni Association, and Medical Aid in coordination with the US-based Indian Muslim Relief & Charities (IMRC), the parent body of Sahayata Trust.
Syed Aneesuddin thanked Hyderabad Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi who played an important role in helping the consignment reach India within a short span of time.
“These are high quality oxygen concentrators with dual outflow of oxygen enabling two patients to use the same machine at a time. We are training people to use the device using the device manuals received from England. This is a daunting task to coordinate the allocation as well as train and equip the personnel to handle the device in a very short time, especially since every passing minute increases danger of loss of life for people struggling to find oxygen support,” said Amirullah Khan.
India needs about one lakh oxygen concentrators. “The government has been able to import only 1000 from the USA, which means there is a deficit of 99%. In such savaging times, the import of 400 units is a small but significant effort in saving more lives”, said former civil servant Prof Amirullah Khan.
He thanked the state and central governments for waiving the import duty on the equipment. He also thanked Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar for taking up the matter on an urgent basis and Commissioner Commercial Taxes Neetu Prasad who went out of the way working late at night to grant ‘real-time approval’. Due to her personal interest in expediting the process, the consignment was ready for pickup within three hours after arrival. — IANS
source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home> Editor’s Pick> India / by IANS / May 24th, 2021
The patient in distress had got a bed at CG Hospital, but there was no oxygen, and the family was asked to source a cylinder.
Davengere, KARNATAKA :
Habeebunissa en route to deliver an oxygen cylinder to the needy | Express
Davangere :
Habeebunissa may be just 19, with limited resources, but has displayed grit and initiative.
As Davanagere locked itself in to stave off the Covid second wave, this young woman ventured out to help the needy.
The international volleyball player has been winning hearts, especially after a video of her carrying an oxygen cylinder on her brother’s bike went viral last week.
The patient in distress had got a bed at CG Hospital, but there was no oxygen, and the family was asked to source a cylinder. She swung into action, collected the cylinder and rushed to hospital. She is glad that the patient survived. She went on to arrange four more cylinders.
The daughter of an autorickshaw driver, Mohammed Jabir, Habeebunissa has been active on many fronts — distributing masks, arranging for oxygen and blood, and even cooking food for stranded nomadic families. She and her mother used the PDS grains that her family gets to cook the meals.
“It is our duty to save humanity from the clutches of the Covid-19. The Youth Congress is funding my initiative to provide cylinders and other social work, with some contribution from my father,” she said.
As vice-president of the Youth Congress Davanagere unit, she has also motivated many girls to take up sports and develop leadership skills.
She is doing her final year ITI (electrical) at Millat College in Davanagere and is an ace volleyball player.
Her father Jabir, who earns Rs 800 per day, and almost nothing since the lockdown kicked in, says he is happy that his daughter is using whatever he gives her to help society.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by G Subhash Chandra, Express News Service / May 22nd, 2021
