Vishal Singh - Turning His Apartment Into A COVID Relief Centre

Source - The Better India 

The past few months have been tough on humanity and its only getting worse with the COVID pandemic reluctant to release its grip on mankind.

The virus has rendered us helpless, we can do little but watch our loved ones succumb to this lethal virus and its ever-emerging mutants. 

The pandemic has reinforced the issue of how privilege takes precedence over dire need and equality. The not-so-wealthy victims of the virus with comorbidities are grappling with the dearth of oxygen cylinders and scarcity of hospital beds, whereas the financially well off are receiving red carpet treatment that remains just a call away. 

All the common man asks for is priority on the basis of health and comorbidities, but all he gets is a reality stricken with grief, death, loss of loved ones, exorbitantly black marketed drugs and now a paucity of vaccines to shield himself from the lethality.

In these trying times, one can only imagine the plight of the common man. 

Here's a story of a common man, Vishal Singh, from Gurgaon and what he did to protect his ailing father after every hospital and nursing home turned their backs on him. 

Simulated a hospital set-up for his father at home

Vishal Singh is the head of Delhi NCR Region Indian Valley Public School and also runs two other public schools in Delhi. 

It can be said that Vishal is of a well-known stature in his area with sufficient contacts in and around Delhi, none of whom could procure a hospital bed anywhere in the city when his old father was diagnosed with COVID. 

Instead of wasting time chasing hospitals, nursing homes and dealers of oxygen, he purchased necessary equipment and the prescribed drugs to provide medical care to his father at home itself. 

The provisions worked efficiently and his father is on the path to a healthy recovery. 

Aspiration to help the common man 

Vishal saw through these trying times and wondered how those far less priviledge than himself managed this fatal illness especially given the unavailability of hospital beds pan India. 

He sensed the difficulty of his 200 membered neighborhood wherein 60 of them were grappling with COVID. 

To ease out the struggle of finding hospital beds, Vishal under the guidance of the housing community President and Retired Army Officer General, VK Narula,
decided to setup a COVID Care Facility by vacating his apartment and make all necessary arrangements like beds, oxygen cylinders, PPE kits, thermometers and oximeters. 

He invested a total of 20 Lakh from his own pocket to set up this facility. 

About the Home COVID Care Centre

The care center hosts a number of patients all of whom are looked after by nurses that are hired by Vishal Singh. 

Provisions are also made to bring requirements from outside and the patients are served healthy and nutritious meals as well. 

In addition to 2 experienced nurses, patients with comorbidities are also occasionally visited by doctors and paramedics. Other patients are required to bring or arrange for their individual medications as prescribed by their family physicians. 

They also provide low cost oxygen cylinders and the nurses and doctors are under constant supervision to ensure ethical practices and to prevent leakage of oxygen cylinders and important drugs from the care facility. 

A relief center only for the critical patients 

Given that it is an apartment, number of beds are limited and subject to availability as well as subject to criticality of the patients condition. 

Three critical patients are currently undergoing treatment at the relief center with other beds empty in case of forth coming exigencies. 

They refrain from providing beds to those who can undergo a home-quarantine and don't require the preferential medical treatment. 

They cross check the criticality of the patient by verifying the oxygen levels before admitting the patient in the facility.

All admitted patients are not kept for a period of 14 days, they are released based on the progress they make and the beds are vacated for another critical patient. 

By this small initiative, Vishal has touched so many lives and helped as many people as possible. He helped alleviate the situation by providing beds to those who weren't able to secure hospital beds or cylinders. 

At a time when even the government is sitting tight, people like Vishal are extending a helpful hand and it's indeed a matter of pride that we have individuals like Vishal going out of their way to help many of those who aren't even related to him. 

Written By - Keerthana Bharadwaj 

Edited By - Tushna Choksey