HOUSTON – Houston organizations are sending resources to India to help the country control its coronavirus outbreak.
COVID-19′s second wave has hit India hard. Hospitals are filled with people lucky enough to make it to one. Shipments of oxygen concentrators cannot make to those who need them fast enough. The country is also using mass crematoriums to keep up with the deceased.
There’s only so much Tithi Thakker can do from Houston. Her best friend is currently battling the virus in northern India.
“One of my best friends who stays there, even her entire family has COVID,” Thakker said. “They were quarantined for 14 days and some of the family members were also in the hospital.”
Thakker is also worried about the health of her family members in India.
“I keep checking on them every single day like, ‘How they’re doing, what’s going on with you’ and like ‘Are you taking precautions and staying safe,’” she said.
She has already lost several family members to COVID-19 within the last year, including both of her grandmothers. Her entire Houston family has been vaccinated as a result.
Gitesh Desai is the spokesperson for SEWA International. The organization is stepping in to provide resources to India, through the hep of donations. The COVID-19 outbreak in India is personal to Desai.
“One of my friends, he’s a physician right now struggling in our hometown, where he’s struggling for oxygen and he’s in the hospital himself,” Desai said.
SEWA International collected more than $4 million in donations for its Help India Defeat COVID-19 Program in less than a week. Desai said those funds have been used to purchase 2,500 oxygen concentrators, which will arrive via airplane in India in a few days. He said SEWA also plans to create a digital hotline in India run by 500 volunteers.
“When you call the information will be given immediately, so people don’t have to struggle to find which ambulance to call or which hospital has openings,” he said.
BAPS Charities is another organization assisting with India’s COVID-19 crisis. The charity is providing medicine, food and treatment expenses for uninsured patients and those who live in rural areas. BAPS has also converted two of their assembly halls in India into makeshift hospitals, with over 500 beds.
To donate to BAPS go to BAPScharities.org and for SEWA International go to SEWAusa.org.