HYDERABAD: From raising funds to arranging beds, medicines and blood; a bunch of IIIT-ians have been doing it all since the second wave hit in April-May 2021.
To date, this ‘Covid War Room’ (CWR) team has resolved 1,107 requests for help and arranged over Rs 40 lakh financial aid, for patients and their families.
Comprising ex and current students of the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-Hyderabad), the team came together in response to a deluge of appeals for crucial assistance for Covid patients during the second wave.
“When I started, I wanted to save at least one life,” said the founder, Sriharsha Karamchati, an ex-student who is now the co-founder of Questbook.
He created a technical ecosystem of support, through a volunteer army, and crowd-sourced data and funding.
Recollecting the first request he received for funds, Sriharsha said that it was from a disconsolate daughter, who had already lost her mother to Covid-19 and needed Rs 1.5 lakh a day for her critically ill father.
“Donate Rs 350 that you would spend on a meal’ was an Instagram post that touched hearts and by the next morning, donations started rolling in.
‘She could save her father for one more day’ was the follow-up Instagram post.
By next day, we had Rs 6 lakh.
Though her father couldn’t evetually make it, her words of gratitude touched a chord,” said Sriharsha adding that he was astounded by the impact that his Twitter, Instagram posts had.
He was also pleasantly surprised by the number of people who turned up to volunteer.
“I started with reaching out to close friends and put a request for volunteers on the IIITH Life Facebook page.
The next day I had 250 volunteers.
They were added to subgroups that catered to specific requirements — for medicines, blood, or bed for Covid and non-Covid patients.
There are also dedicated teams for requests, resources and verification,” he said.
The primary purpose of the team: To free patients’ attendants from worrying about logistics so that they can spend quality time with their loved ones.
“My 11-month-old daughter tested positive for Covid-19 and we had no money for her treatment.
The team came forward and raised Rs 2 lakh.
She is now discharged and is healthy.
We shall always be grateful to CWR,” said Yakobu K, a daily wage labourer.
He said that he even tried to do his bit by donating Rs 1,000 to one of the fundraisers that was organised by the team for another child.
“Our War Room also has a team of doctors for remote consultation, a team of students from pharmacy college, hospital owners as well as IAS and IPS officers who are our final line of defence when all else fails,” said Apoorva Srivastava, a second-year IIIT-H student part of this group.