Rising to the Challenge: iamgurgaon’s COVID-19 Relief Efforts in Gurgaon

iamgurgaon believes in driving partnerships and effective change. We work with the government, other NGOs, the citizens and corporates to create impact in our city. Since the onset ofCOVID-19, we have directed our efforts and resources to tackle the pandemic head on and undertaken relief efforts for those in need.

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As the pandemic hit Gurgaon, daily-wage earners had no source of income during the lockdown; businesses and modes of employment were both suspended. To help migrant labourers who were left stranded in Gurgaon, we started raising funds to provide food for them through NGOs working on the ground. Furthering our efforts to address this food crisis, we asked citizens to come forward to help those in need. Many from Gurgaon came forward and donated money and rations to the NGOs. We also worked with the MCG and local NGOs to put together a list of jhuggis in Gurgaon that needed dry rations and cooked food. Every NGO had defined areas where they provided cooked meals on a daily basis and dry rations as required. Iamgurgaon supported NGOs and other organisations such as:

1. AGRASAR
2. Gurgaon Nagrik Ekta Manch
3. Rasoi On Wheels Foundation.
4. JantaRasoi
5. Nowhere Terrace Café

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After Unlock 1, we continued to partner with Gurgaon Nagrik Ekta Manch who supply dry rations to those in need in the thousands. With one ration pack, a family would be able to sustain itself for around 7-10 days.

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Due to the community spread of COVID-19, we wanted to ensure the safety of the delivery people on the ground. iamgurgaon stepped forward and supplied essential safety gear like masks, shields, sanitisers, gloves etc, for which a supply of 2-3 months was given.

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Coupled with a huge population and inadequate medical infrastructure, Gurgaon seemed to be heading towards a major crisis. The city and the neighboring areas were dealing with poor quality of protective gear for our health and sanitation workers. iamgurgaon took the initiative to find a safe and efficient method to procure and distribute masks and other PPE gear to help fight this global pandemic. Given the shortages, and general practicality due to costs and difficulty in obtaining this equipment, PPE geargets reused in most cases. Hence a bigger issue at hand is the quality of PPE kits in use. As we got involved in this area, it was apparent that several businesses had smelt an opportunity and had jumped into the fray with little or no understanding of the domain. Through rigorous testing and research we eventually honed in on breathable and effective PPE kits which included:

1. Coverall and shoe cover made of 60-65 gsm SSMMS
2. Face shields
3. Nitrile and latex gloves
4. 3 ply face masks and N95 masks
5. Head cover

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While looking to provide free PPE kits, the prerequisite was that the hospitals we provided the kits to, had a genuine need for as well as they were finding it difficult to procure the items required. We also made sure that all these hospitals were receiving poor patients while running on charitable funds. Our team interacted with each hospital and found where they were lacking, and helped them fill the gap.

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The list of hospitals is as follows:

1. Lok Kalyan Hospital, Chakkarpur.
2. BK Hospital, Faridabad.
3. St Stephens Hospital Community Health Dept, Dhankot.
4. St Stephens Hospital Community Health Dept, Delhi.
5. Swami Amardev Hospital, Pataudi.
6. Pt Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital, Malviya Nagar.
7. Medeor Hospital, Manesar.

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Another segment of population we worked with were the sanitation workers. In association with Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon we provided protective gear (Face Mask, reusable plastic gloves and sanitiser bottles) to 5400 sanitary workers. We personally interacted and distributed to almost 80% of the workers, this gave us an opportunity to educate and thank them for the support they are providing to our city. We also provided masks and sanitisers to about 1000 frontline police staff in the city, who are interacting with people needed to be kept safe.

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iamgurgaon has also been involved in raising funds for Medeor Hospital, making it the first designated private COVID-19 Hospital in the country. It was conceptualized by the leaders of four hospital chains – Dr. Naresh Trehan (Chairman and MD, Medanta the Medicity), Dr. Ashutosh Raghuvanshi (CEO, Fortis Healthcare), Dr. Devlina Chakravarty (MD & CEO, Artemis Hospitals) and Dr. ShamsheerVayalil (Chairman & MD, VPS Healthcare). It was during a meeting with the Haryana CM Sh. Manohar Lal Khattar in March that the idea to repurpose Medeor as a dedicated COVID-19 Hospital for the district was first proposed.

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The Hospital was born not out of the need for profit, but out of the desire to do more for the people in need, being made free for the underprivileged which is around 30% of the patients at Medeor. This is where iamgurgaon comes in, we partnered with Corporates and Hospitals of Gurgaon and formed the “Gurgaon COVID-19 Volunteers Group” which included Mr. Pramod Bhasin (Founder, Genpact & Chairman, Clix Capital), Mr. Deep Kalra (Founder CEO, MakeMyTrip), Mr. Sumant Sinha (Chairman and MD, ReNew Power) and Ms. Taab Siddiqi (Co-founder, Harvest Gold Industries), and leaders from Medanta, Fortis, Artemis and VPS healthcare. By relying on our wide network of supporters and donors, the group initiated a large fund-raising campaign for Medeor hospital.Medeor provided the requisite infrastructure and also undertook various upgrades to the hospital’s infection control system and sewage treatment plant. The doctors and nurses were pooled in by Medanta, Fortis and Artemis. The three hospitals also provided the equipment and consumables required to kick-start the hospital. The 120-bed hospital represents a unique collaboration between hospital groups, private corporations, civil society, and the Gurgaon administration.

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Through our collective efforts we can help mitigate the adverse effects of this pandemic, by doing our little bit for the larger society at hand. We believe in partnerships to create an impact and through our partnerships https://xenicallab.com we have been able to undertake these activities of food distribution, providing PPE kits and raise funds for Medeor Hospital as a dedicated Covid-19 hospital in Gurugram. We aim to continue to do so, creating a long lasting impact and tackling this pandemic head on.