MANGALURU: A 32-year-old mentally ill man, who was picked up from the railway station, fed and housed for nearly a year, has been reunited with his family in Bihar. Lakhan Kumar was working as a cleaner when he was abandoned by the driver here in July last year. He had gone without food for 10 days when he was found.
“When we reached the Mangaluru Junction railway station in our ambulance, Kumar was exhausted due to starvation. He was afraid to come out of the shed due to fear of police and the pandemic. He was mentally depressed too. We immediately took him to a hospital and later shifted him to our rehabilitation centre,” said Mohammed Asif, founder of Maimuna Foundation. “We provided him food and took care of him at our centre for nearly a year before sending him back to his family in Agu Chapra village in Siwan.”
While emphasis on the fight against COVID-19 pandemic is on providing medical equipment for treatment units, Patel Samaj of Malawi has come in with a difference by donating essential personal protective equipment (PPEs) to Blantyre City Council’s burial team.
Kadiwar and Kaushik Patel presenting the equipment to Kanjunjunju
Patel Samaj is a grouping of the Patel lineage community whose clan of members are originally from Gujarat state of India and previously have assisted hospitals, health centers, orphanages and NGOs in various ways.
Presenting the donation, one the the grouping’s directors Dilip Kadiwar said they decided to assist the Council’s burial team as they play an important role following the exponential COVID-19 related deaths in this second wave of the pandemic.