UChicago Students & Alumni - Critical Oxygen Support for | Milaap
This is a supporting campaign. Contributions made to this campaign will go towards the main campaign.
UChicago Students & Alumni - Critical Oxygen Support for India
  • UChicago

    Created by

    UChicago Students
  • S

    This fundraiser will benefit

    Swasth

    from Bengaluru, Karnataka

Tax benefits for INR donations will be issued by United Way of Bengaluru

India is currently experiencing its biggest surge in COVID cases since the pandemic began, and this devastating second wave has completely overwhelmed the country’s health infrastructure. Each day, the government reports close to 350,000 new infections, a world record, and India is now seeing more new infections than any other country by far, almost half of all new cases in a global surge. Students in the US who are following the news from India are torn between two jarringly different worlds - as vaccines are increasingly available in Chicago and life is slowly going back to normal, the situation is truly dire back home. We would love your support as we try to help improve the situation in whatever small way that we can.

At present, amongst the biggest hurdles faced pan-India is a severe shortage of oxygen. Even when oxygen is available, cylinders must be refilled once used, which is time consuming and expensive - especially for hospitals and healthcare facilities in smaller towns. After much consideration, we determined that our impact would be greatest if directed towards the purchase of oxygen concentrators. (Oxygen concentrators are medical devices that concentrate oxygen from ambient air - providing a sustainable source of oxygen supply that is not dependent on manufacturing or supply chain constraints.) As oxygen concentrators last for many years, this is also not just a short term solution, but importantly, a long term one that strengthens the broader health system. The funds that we raise will be donated to an organization called Swasth, well known by some of our students, that is coordinating the procurement and deployment of oxygen concentrators across India. Swasth estimates that India needs around 200,000 oxygen concentrators - of which Swasth has currently procured 10,000.

“Low flow” concentrators cost USD 600 and can treat and save the lives of up to 900 patients with mild to moderate illness. “High flow” concentrators cost USD 1100 and can treat and save the lives of up to 550 patients with a severe or critical illness.

We are raising funds to procure 10 concentrators, at minimum. This fundraiser is directly linked to Swasth’s fundraising efforts to ensure no time lag in the deployment of funds.

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