The pleas are reaching tech-savvy engineers, lawyers, NGO workers, politicians, doctors and even tuk-tuk drivers, who have mobilised online to help the sick, some of them hundreds of miles away. Collectively, they have formed grassroots networks that are stepping in where state and national governments have failed.
It is a role that Srinivas, 38, has played before in times of crisis.
As the president of the Congress party’s youth league, he has provided support after natural disasters, including earthquakes and floods. He has worked to get textbooks to underprivileged children and medicine to people who couldn’t afford it.
Early last year, when the pandemic first struck and India locked down, Srinivas galvanised young volunteers across the country who distributed food for stranded migrants, along with more than 10 million masks. He now heads a team of 1,000 people, including 100 in Delhi, the centre of the current outbreak.
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Rajni Gill woke up with a slight fever in mid-April, the first warning that she had COVID-19. Within a few days, she was breathless and nearly unconscious in a hospital.
Desperate to arrange plasma treatment for Dr Gill, a gynaecologist in the city of Noida, her family called doctors, friends, anyone they thought could help. Then her sister posted a plea on Facebook: “I am looking for a plasma donor for my sister who is hospitalised in Noida. She is B positive and is 43.”
The message, quickly amplified on Twitter, flashed across the phone of Srinivas B.V., an opposition politician in nearby Delhi, who was just then securing plasma for a college student. He deputised a volunteer donor to rush to the blood bank for Dr Gill.
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New Zealand High Commission Should ve Used protocols : PM Ardern On Oxygen Request Row
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern has said that its High Commission in India should have used other channels in order to seek medical assistance rather than IYC.
Image credits: AP/PTI
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that the New Zealand High Commission in India should have used other channels in order to seek medical assistance rather than requesting the Indian Youth Congress on Twitter to help in providing an oxygen cylinder. In an interview with TVNZ, Ardern also acknowledged the New Zealand High Commission’s apology for the tweet as there are other channels where the officials could have gone to for such matters. However, New Zealand PM said that she should recognise that their local staff member has been “very unwell”. She also pointed out that the High Commission had acknowledged it should have been using “normal channels and protocols.”
Social media as ‘godsend’: In India, cries for help get results
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Social media as ‘godsend’: In India, cries for help get resultsBy Suhasini Raj, New York Times
Last Updated: May 03, 2021, 11:32 AM IST
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Synopsis
With India’s health care system overwhelmed by India’s unprecedented COVID surge, which is bringing more than 400,000 new cases and thousands of deaths each day, desperate relatives and friends of the infected have resorted to sending SOS messages on social media. And many of those calls are being answered.
Agencies
Rajni Gill woke up with a slight fever in mid-April, the first warning that she had COVID-19. Within a few days, she was breathless and nearly unconscious in a hospital.
Social media as godsend : In India, cries for help get results bdnews24.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bdnews24.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.