Help Us Protect Healthcare Workers Treating COVID-19

The whole world has been engulfed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This deadly disease has not only infected lakhs of people, but it has also resulted in thousands of deaths. Almost all countries are facing the brutal effects of this pandemic. And India is no exception to this.

What the last few weeks have shown us is that there are widespread challenges in hospital systems in even the most medically advanced countries in the world. Even they find their resources dwindling as they struggle to take care for patients during a pandemic.
The hospitals there are running out of ICU beds, ventilators, other medical equipment and even people as more and more healthcare professionals are getting infected while treating COVID-19 patients. Medical supplies have been hard to find, healthcare workers across the globe are fighting like soldiers without guns and ammunition.

India has a doctor to patients ratio of 1: 1445 which is much lower than the WHO’s prescribed norms. When compared with Italy which has a doctor to patients ratio of 3.8 :1000, India is far behind in terms of its healthcare infrastructure. Can India’s Healthcare infrastructure stand up to the challenge? Sounds Improbable.

We already have reports wherein Doctors and nurses are pleading with the government for adequate safety equipment to treat COVID-19 patients.

Our Doctors and nurses are resorting to the Indian moniker “ Jugaad” to protect themselves while treating patients. One resident doctor in Haryana has started wearing his helmet along with the mask with the hope that the additional layer will protect against the virus while treating patients. In fact, doctors have started saying that they would like to treat COVID-19 patients but not at the cost of their lives, treating COVID-19 patients without proper medical protective gear is nothing but suicide.

Already doctors and nurses at some of the prominent hospitals have been infected with COVID-19 and have been quarantined.

Due to these circumstances doctors and nurses are fearful of treating COVID-19 patients lest they contract the disease and also infect others unknowingly.

Just imagine this scenario playing out in India. We already have a shortage of doctors and nurses and even if 10% of them were to be infected, we would have less no of doctors and nurses to treat COVID-19 patients. This not only decreases the chances of stemming the disease but also increases the no of patients who would die due to shortage of healthcare personnel to treat them. For a country of 1.3 billion people this would be catastrophic.

The number of deaths could be in millions. This would be one of the greatest tragedies mankind would face if we do not act now urgently and swiftly. We are in a warzone where our soldiers are not the military personnel but the healthcare workers who are on the frontlines. It is our responsibility to protect each and every one of them to keep them healthy so that they can work to treat more and more COVID-19 patients and help stem the disease.

We have already crossed 5500 known cases of COVID-19 in the country and soon would see an exponential rise in cases just like what has happened in Italy, US, Iran and Spain. The pressures are mounting, but you can help us to navigate the challenges the world currently faces.

If our doctors and healthcare personnel are infected who will be left to treat the COVID-19 patients. No one.

Hence, we are setting up this fundraiser for the following causes for this COVID-19 war to provide healthcare personnel in Government Hospitals in Chandigarh with personal protective equipment.