CHENNAI: It has been a tiring day for Manikandan, an ambulance driver in Thiruvallur. “I brought nine Covid-19 patients to Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital today,” he says. In the ambulance, lay a patient waiting for a bed.
He, however, is no stranger to days like this ever since the second wave began. But, what made his work even more gruelling is the unavailability of food during the lockdown. Fortunately, a group of activists from one Karunalaya here has started distributing food to frontline staff like Manikandan at hospitals.
Help from across the seas
Dr N Paul Sunder Singh, secretary of Karunalaya, said: “The crowdfunded initiative has the patronage of the Indian community in the US, UK-based Amos Trust, an advocate, and many others from various walks of life.
Deepak Kumar Anigullu Mohan, an electrical engineer working in North Carolina, and wife Dr Kavya Kannamma Kannan a staff at a hospital in North Carolina, have been at the forefront of raising funds for Tamil Nadu from the community in the US.
Deepak told Express that a lot of the (Indian) community members are also trying to ensure that oxygen concentrators reach India, which is facing a shortage of the gas. Organisations like ‘Oxygen for India’ have shipped 1,500 concentrators to India, he said.