New Delhi: India’s situation is turning harrowing with each passing day as the country continues to grapple with a surge in COVID-19 cases amidst a shortage of life-gasping oxygen, plasma and other medical aids to fight the virus.
However, many in society have come forward voluntarily to help the people in need with whatever means possible as the situation is very dire in India with millions of death coming to the forefront every day. Some have donated equipment; some are making efforts to help the patients find hospitals and beds for covid treatment.
In order to cope up with the grieving situation, an IAS officer-cum-actor has come up with a noble initiative to reach out to COVID-19 patients: to address the demand for plasma and to home deliver oxygen free of cost through a portal 'United by Blood'.
In an interview with ETV Bharat, Abhishek Singh, the Deputy Commissioner of Delhi, said, "These days we have so much information asymmetry related to plasma donation and people are desperately looking for plasma, its donors and are unable to find it. That’s why, we launched unitedbyblood.com, which connects donors to the recipients directly on a real-time basis. It is location-based."
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Volunteers capture the donor's location and the information is passed on to the recipients, Singh said, adding the service is free of cost.
"We don’t display numbers, so people first connect based on their requirement and can further share contacts if it matches”, he said.
The unique feature of the portal is that it allows recipients to contact donors directly, converse and set up a meeting at the hospital etc.
"One unique feature about this platform is that donors also can pro-actively sit and talk to the plasma recipients, which is not available on any other platform. A person donating plasma would like to see a smile on the recipient's face. We are working on providing that kind of satisfaction”, Singh told ETV Bharat.
'United by Blood' was launched last week.
Delivering oxygen cylinders
As Delhi reels under shortage of oxygen cylinders and concentrators, Singh, as part of the 'United By Blood' initiative has also launched ‘Oxytaxi’ to deliver free oxygen to residents of Delhi NCR without any delivery charges.
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When asked how one can avail of this service, Singh said, "We have launched Oxytaxi, which is a free oxygen home delivery service. The service is launched for people who find it difficult to travel to refilling centres. We provide oxygen cylinders free of cost to the patient's location. No money is charged for cylinder refill. The response has been very good. So far, we have delivered 45 cylinders," he said.
To avail the service, one needs to log on to unitedbyblood.com, fill up the form with information pertaining to oxygen level and doctor's prescription among others. Accordingly, the location is captured and Oxytaxi drivers deliver filled oxygen cylinders to the patient.
According to the Delhi government, the national capital on Friday reported fewer than 10,000 COVID-19 cases. It recorded 10,489 cases on Thursday and 13,287 cases on Wednesday.
