Nagpur: They are settled thousands of kilometres away, but have not forgotten their roots in the motherland.
At a time when Covid is wreaking havoc across the globe, and in India in particular, British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) has extended a helping hand to their fellow Indians.
Many of the 65,000 Indian doctors in the UK have felt the pain experienced by Indians as they too have either lost family members and friends here or seen them fall ill with the virus.
TOI had reported that the doctors have started providing teleconsultation to patients at Kingsway Hospital from May 1.
Apart from that, the BAPIO has sent equipment and support for food distribution worth Rs4 crore in the last 45 days.
“BAPIO has three ways by which we have extended our support.
We have set up a ‘virtual hub’ for tele-triaging with colleagues to make clinical decisions speedier.
‘Virtual ward rounds’ are provided to assist patients admitted at Kingsway Hospital,” said Dr Ramesh Mehta, president of BAPIO who hails from Vidarbha.
BAPIO doctors also provided fast reporting service to clear the backlog of radiological investigations such as CT scans during the peak.
Now, they are connecting to rural centres around Nagpur for one-to-one support to doctors.
Secondly, the doctors have sent 130 ventilators, 300 oxygen concentrators, 5,000 pulse oximeters to 50 centres in India along with PPE kits and some basic medicines.
Third and most important wing is distribution of food packets and ration bags through local charities to daily wage earners, who are out of job.
“This is a humanitarian crisis of huge proportions.
In Nagpur, we are collaborating with Indian Academy of Paediatrics and COMHAD (Commonwealth Association for Health And Disability) to assist us with distribution of equipment, mainly in rural area,” said Dr Mehta.
Dr Uday Bodhankar, patron of IAP and executive director of COMHAD, and Dr Rajkumar Khandelwal, director of Kingsway Hospital, are nodal in-charge of this project.
Nimish Khandelwal is ensuring the implementation.
“So far in Nagpur, they have sent 30 ventilators, 80 oxygen concentrators, 2,000 pulse oximeters along with PPEs and medicines,” said Dr Bodhankar.
As per Dr Bodhankar, many leading social organizations and charity hospitals in Vidarbha were helped with this aid as per their need.
Help travels from UK to Gadchiroli… BAPIO, established in 1963, now has more than 65,000 medical professionals of Indian origin as its members in UK Dr Ramesh Mehta, GMC Nagpur alumni, is current president of BAPIO BAPIO assistance was given to – Dr Prakash Amte’s Lok Biradari project in Hemalkasa in Gadchiroli district Dr Ravindra and Dr Smita Kolhe’s project in Bairagadh in Dharni tehsil of Amravati Dr Abhay and Dr Rani Bang’s project SEARCH in Gadchiroli Dr Ashish and Dr Kavita Satav’s project MAHAN in Melghat, Amravati Dr Vikas Amte’s project Anandvan, in Warora, Chandrapur district Dr Kaustrubh Amte’s project in Somnath, Chandrapur district Old Age Home Panchawati of Matru Sewa Sangh and at Saoner Shraddhanand Anathalay, Nagpur Mure Memorial Hospital, Nagpur Daga Hospital for Mother and Newborn, Nagpur