Covid care | Oxygen concentrator for a Public Health Center (PHC) at Vazhathope panchayath (Idukki)

I asked Jinesh whether we can help in any way when he mentioned about the struggle people are going through post covid, because of the lack of medical facilities in his panchayat (Vazhathope, idukki).  Since lot of people there needs Oxygen support, I proposed donating an Oxygen concentrator.  

 

As you know, there's a big shortage of Oxygen cylinders/concentrators even now. Few weeks back, for supporting another case, I had contacted multiple Oxygen concentrator vendors including this Coimbatore based vendor by name Faraday Ozone (https://www.faradayozone.com/).  I spoke to them again and they said they can courier 5 Litre machine by next Thursday.  He said 75k (plus tax) initially and came down to 55k when I mentioned the cause. I can try and negotiate this further if we all agree to go ahead. Please see the mail from Jinesh below for more details.

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Dear Antony,

As you know, in idukki medical facilities are limited. At present covid treatment is through government hospitals only. So patients can get medical support till they test negative.  There are many cases with the need for external o2 support during post covid period. Post covid care is mostly  upto the patient itself.. In the case of the idukki area, there are no vendors to rent out Oxygen concentrators. Even if they could find a vendor from a far away place, affordability is another big question to the most. So required external o2 support during the recovery period is criticaly unaddressed in most of the cases, equipment shortage and cost is a barrier. So if you can do anything for this problem, it will be life saving support for the needy.

As per your proposal to offer an oxygen concentrator machine for post covid care, I consulted the matter with multiple friends who are involved in the covid19 handling.

Need for oxygen concentrators is much more than what I expected.

Most of my friends recommended handing over the oxygen concentrator to the Public Health Center (PHC) through the Grama panchayath. Because now the cases with the need for oxygen support during post covid period is very high. Demand supply mismatch is very high. O2 concentrator will be an extremely precious aid to post covid patients. To ensure a proper distribution of the machine among patients, we need to involve panchayath also.

Address of the grama panchayath.


            Vazhathope Grama Panchayath
            Thadiampadu P O
            Vazhathope, Idukki district. Kerala.
            PIN-685602
            Phone : 04862-235627
( https://www.vazhathopepanchayat.gov.in )

Looking forward to hear further from you on this great mission. May god bless you and your team for proactively supporting the needy.

Thanks,
Jinesh