Rishay Gupta
MEERUT: As Covid-19 hit a high in April and hospitals were overwhelmed with requests for admission, and WhatsApp groups inundated with unconfirmed messages about availability of oxygen cylinders, Ansh Garg knew he had to plug the gap between fact and fiction. It didn’t take long for his two friends, Avani Singh and Rishay Gupta, to join hands. Before they knew, 250 students from across India had volunteered as foot soldiers.
Soon, two WhatsApp groups were floated — “Covid-19 Sahayta Kendra” and “Sahayta Kendra Volunteers”. The first was for students who were ready to devote time every day to find verified leads on hospital beds, ventilators and oxygen cylinders across states. The second group then worked on the genuine information, connecting patients with their needs — from Meerut to Nagpur, Kolkata to Bengaluru. They have by now helped hundreds.
“The strategy was simple,” Ansh, a resident of Saharanpur and student of Class 12, told TOI. “Good information has the power to save lives. The idea was floated and Avani and Rishay, both from Meerut, came in. We had to develop a database of verified leads that could be passed on to people in need, and on time.”
Avani, 17, added, “Whenever there’s a demand for something, a hospital bed in Chandigarh perhaps, we immediately contact our network source in that city who has access to the real data on beds there. We then quickly call the hospital for confirmation and the needy person is directed to that facility.”
Some 110 volunteers in the primary WhatsApp group continuously keep track of leads and update the database. Then the other group takes over. TOI contacted some of the families, in different parts of India, who had got help from these students.
Devraj Khunteta, a Jaipur resident, was one of them. “My grandmother was in dire need of a ventilator. Most hospitals had beds but no ventilator. It was then that I sent across messages to my friends and one of them connected with this group. I was immediately sent verified information and I got a ventilator.”
In Delhi, Anoma Jayant got a bed for her uncle in the nick of time. And in Bengaluru, Elakkana P got AB negative blood.
One of the volunteers, Sripriya Chowdhury, 18, said she takes care of “Kolkata region”. “I generate authentic leads for my city,” she said. “It is a strenuous task. But then it is a matter of life and death. If someone gets an oxygen cylinder in time, it saves a life. It’s a noble cause and spending two hours daily is not a big deal.”
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