Dar-ul-Ata, Athrout provide 465 oxygen concentrators, 55 BiPap machines to people
By: Owais Gul
Srinagar, April 28: The Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in Srinagar are out yet again to provide a silent help to the people in need amid the spike in the COVID-19 cases and the reports about the shortage of oxygen facilities.
Athrout, Dar-ul-Ata and SRO are among the NGOs who have kept its men on toes to serve the people in the prevalent situation that arises after the spurt in the COVID-19 cases again in Jammu and Kashmir especially in Srinagar.
Amid the reports about shortage of oxygen supply in Valley hospitals, these NGOs have provided all of their oxygen concentrators to the people in need.
Not only in Jammu and Kashmir, but some of these NGOs have been providing the Oxygen concentrators to the people in need living outside J&K as well.
Shabir Ahmad, Chairman of Dar-ul-Ata said that the NGO has 115 oxygen concentrators and 15 BiPap machines, saying that all have been provided to people at present.
“We got a call from Delhi recently where people are being asked to pay Rs 18000 for an oxygen cylinder for ten days. We have sent five oxygen concentrators to the people in Delhi as well. Seven members of one of the families in Delhi are tested positive for COVID-19 and three have died as well and they were not finding it hard to get the oxygen concentrators following which we sent the oxygen concentrators to the family,” he said.
He added that the demand of oxygen concentrators has gone up as in the first 15 days of April, they have provided 70 oxygen concentrators to the patients in need while ten patients are still waiting for the oxygen concentrators. “As the demand has gone up, we have sought more concentrators from the distributor as we have been getting calls from the patients almost every day in this regard,” he said.
Similarly, Chairman of Athrout, Bashir Nadwi said since the cases started resurging in J&K, they have provided 350 oxygen concentrators to the people. Besides, they according to him have also provided 40 Auto BiPap machines to the patients in need.
“We have also provided PPE kits, Pulse oximeters, N95 and surgical masks to the people,” he said, adding that all these facilities are being provided to the people after getting proper prescriptions from them.
“As the cases spurt, all the available oxygen concentrators have been provided to the patients,” he said, adding that they are planning to come up with an oxygen bed to deal with the shortage of oxygen, saying that the oxygen beds at three to four places will be ready within one week. (KNO)