Mir Mudasir
It’s around midnight 35 year old volunteer is sleeping at the office of HPVT when he got a call from old city- the caller was in panic as his father’s saturation has dropped drastically from mid 80’s to 70, with losing any time the volunteer wore a PPE kit and drove the ambulance straight to the address given by the caller and after stablising the patient with an oxygen cylinder the volunteer drove the patient to SMHS hospital in the dead of night. The timely action of the volunteer saved the precious life of the patient and now he is recuperating in the Covid-19 ward and doctors are hopeful the patient will be able to get discharged.
“When he was brought to the hospital his saturation was depleting but timely intervention saved his life,” said a doctor.
A big network of groups in Kashmir are doing yeoman services by giving oxygen, equipment, ambulance services and food kits to the COVID affected patients which has reduced the burden from the shoulders of the government. The network of voluntary organisations have arranged more than 1,000 oxygen cylinders and concentrators that have helped hundreds of patients across Kashmir especially in Srinagar district where there are still the highest number of active positive cases. They provide the equipment, especially oxygen machines free of cost, even ferry patients in their ambulances and manage to save lives of the people.
The volunteers of these groups raise money from the local people and after seeing their tremendous selfless work, the people have opened their wallets for the organisers of these groups. These groups have been pivotal in saving the lives of patients by their timely intervention and with the passage of time these groups have modernized their equipment.
Help Poor Voluntary Trust: This group was set up in 1998 and is run by businessmen and professionals. “We always try to help our people especially when they are in distress, especially our’s is a medical trust with a fleet of 12 ambulances and 300 oxygen machines and cylinders,” said Farooq Ahmad who established this group along with like minded friends in the heart of the city.
Ahmad said the group has an office at Hari Singh High Street and every week and month the 17 members meet to chalk out strategies on how to help people especially who require medical help.
“Besides giving cash assistance to patients suffering from serious ailments, our group has done a lot of work in pandemic or floods. At times our ambulances ferry patients to far off places.”
The HPVT is run on the funds raised by the locals, especially the members who mostly are the big businessmen. The budget of the organisation is more than one crore and every penny is being raised by people who care for their society.
Authrout: The group’s name means “helping hands” has helped families in pandemic and the volunteers of the groups. The helpline of the group is always ringing as people seek help from them and the members have never let them down.
“We are trying our best to help the people and our helpline is working 24×7. At times we didn’t manage to have proper sleep as our phones keep on ringing always during odd hours,” said a volunteer of the organisation which like other organisations or groups raise their funds from the local donors.
“This is our motto to help our society. From the past two years especially when the pandemic began we have realised that we have more responsibility towards our community. This is the time when we can save the lives of people,” he said.
The group is also providing food kits to the people during the pandemic and also arranged medicine for poor patients besides running a successful dialysis centre in the old city which is equipped with more than 30 hi-tech machines and being run by trained staff.
Social Reform Organisation (SRO)
Social Reforms Organisation (SRO) as a Trust was established by a group of students in 2004 to work for the welfare of people. SRO’s massive efforts came to the fore during and post 2005 earthquake for relief and rehabilitation of people. The welfare body was also active during the 2014 Kashmir floods.
“Initially the efforts were confined to the area in and around Batamaloo but with the passage of time the organisation extended its reach. During the last so many years SRO has been arranging Food Kits, Medicines and Ambulances for the distressed. During last year’s pandemic lock-down and many political lock-down’s prior to that, SRO carried an extensive programme of food kit outreach catering to around thousands of families containing ration kits and arranging medicine and other supplies for the needy.
SRO has been at the forefront of providing Oxygen Support System to COPD patients since long but with the pandemic hitting the globe hard last year decided to strengthen its base in respiratory care under the Flagship Programme, Oxygen Kashmir increasing the base of Oxygen Equipments by purchasing Oxygen Concentrators, BIPAP, CPAP Machines and Oxygen Cylinders to extend the reach of the programme,” said Dr Javeed chairman of the Trust.
He said that since the onset of Pandemic, SRO receives an average of 150 distress calls every 24 hours and has catered to almost 750-900 patients on an average in a month with Oxygen Support, Ambulance Services ferrying running 24×7 and ferrying on an average 700 patients every month and providing other relief measures and supplying life saving drugs to many COVID patients. SRO also arranged Plasma for many hundred covid patients during their Plasma for Kashmir programme.
“SRO organized many programmes last year, including a programme for free distribution of wheelchairs and hearing aids on the World disability day.”
According to data available on their website, SRO closed more than 8000 SOS calls and forwarded around 400 calls to other NGOs to reach-out to people in need.
J&K Yateem Foundation: This group too has been helping people across Kashmir especially in Srinagar and other districts of Kashmir and has its branches almost in every district. The foundation is running three orphanages in Srinagar, Sopore and Kulgam besides an ambulance service that has helped people in the pandemic, especially during Covid19 crisis.
“We have provided monetary and material help to the poor, needy and the destitute for the last 21 years. Last year COVID came up with a new challenge. In the beginning due to lockdown daily wagers faced difficult times. We reached out to needy families with food. The Current situation is different now people ask for oxygen concentrators and we have stepped in and provided this facility too. Due to non availability of oxygen concentrators in the market the organisation could not get more machines. We have 40 machines running and ordered more to meet the demand,” said Javeed Jawaad, one of the volunteers.
Sikh Volunteers Kashmir – an amalgam of various sikh groups so far has distributed more than 6000 meals in different hospitals and covid centres and held more than 60 cremations across Kashmir and is also running a 24×7 helpline for covid19 patients.
“We have been working from last one year and have procured 24 oxygen machines and 50 cylinders. We arrange medicines, meals and cremations across Kashmir and resources are arranged through voluntary contributions. Our group is being run, helped by doctors and professionals,” said Jagjeet Singh, a volunteer who is also postmaster at Rangreth Srinagar.
Falah u Darein: This group was established two decades ago in Baramulla and is one of the most dedicated charity groups in north Kashmir.
“During the pandemic we helped people in Baramulla by providing them medicine and other help. We have 50 oxygen concentrators and cylinders. We only provide oxygen machines to people on the advice of doctors which has helped many and there is no crisis in our area,” says Asif Aziz, volunteer of the group.
Khidmat Trust: Another organisation working in north Kashmir is arranging medicine, oxygen machines and food kits for the people. “We have 20 oxygen concentrators and we have placed orders for more machines. The demand is such that even if we have more machines, then only we can reach all the people,” said advocate Mudasir Naqashbandi, one of the group members. “We also distributed around 2000 food kits in north Kashmir last year to the tune of Rs 30 lakhs, besides medicine. The aim is to help our people who face problems during a pandemic and have no money.”
Syed u Sadat group Anantnag: It was set up around 30 years ago; the group is active in south Kashmir and has provided major relief to people in South Kashmir. “The group has been doing charity works and in different fields, especially direct transfer of money is done every month to the poor and needy people.” said one of the founders. He said during the pandemic the group had arranged 30 oxygen concentrators for the COVID patients. “We distribute masks, food kits and sanitizers among the people.”
Jammu And Kashmir Action Group is working in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district and does a lot of yeoman services especially marriage assistance to poor girls, upbringing of orphans and helping those having serious illness.
“We receive dozens of calls for oxygen cylinders and financial support for COVID patients. We try to help everyone who approaches us.”
