“Seeing the suffering in my own family, I had no option butto set this facility up. It is high time we become selfless. No matter how muchmoney or power you possess, this pandemic can affect you,” says Vishal Singh.
Vishal Singh, a 42-year-old man who could not find ahospital bed for his Covid positive father has set an example by creating aCovid care facility for covid patients. Vishal is the resident of Sahara Gracecondominiums in Sector 28, Gurugram. He owns a chain of private schools calledIndus Valley Public School in Delhi-NCR and two Delhi Public Schools in UttarPradesh.
A few days back, his father who is nearing 80 was sufferingfrom Covid 19. Despite all the resources like money and contacts in tophospitals, he was unable to find a bed for his father. However, after lots ofefforts, he managed to arrange all the required facilities in the home itself.
Witnessing his father’s pain, Vishal decided to set up acovid care facility in the area.
Vishal said, “Despite having all the resources in hand andhaving contacts in different private hospitals, my father couldn’t access ahospital bed or oxygen. Instead of waiting for any response by hospitals, wearranged everything my father needed for a home quarantine, and thankfully he’sdoing much better now.”
While sharing his experience, Vishal mentioned this time asan extremely difficult moment for him and his family. “A couple of days back,as I was going on my morning stroll, I saw a series of emails being exchangedby members of my residential society about setting up a covid19 care facilityinside the complex,” Vishal added.
Setting up a Covid19 care facility in the residentialcomplex is a bit complicated because of two reasons. One reason is high costand another is the unwillingness of other residents to take on theresponsibility. Following this Vishal decided to reach out to General VK Narulaand Dr. Nagra. VK Narula is the president of the Residents Welfare Associationand Dr. Nagra is a retired doctor associated with Manipal Hospital. On ameeting with General VK Narula, Dr. Nagra, and residents of the Sahara Grace,Vishal Singh proposed to foot the bill for the facility.
“I was willing to give up my apartment to set up thisfacility. There is also a massive clubhouse in our society which has basicinfrastructure like washrooms and air conditioning attached to it. Around 60residents out of 200 were Covid positive in our society. There was no time fordebates. Even privileged men withhigh-end apartment s are finding it hard to get medical treatment. The shortageof beds and oxygen has affected everyone,” said Vishal Singh.
The Covid care facility is equipped with beds, stools,cabinets, oximeters, suction machines, oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders,masks, PPE kits, saline water, etc.
It took Vishal and his coordinators two days to set up therelief center. Vishal himself spent Rs 20 lakh. The facility does not admitpeople who are self quarantined and are having healthy oxygen levels. Priorityis given to patients with blood oxygen levels lower than 90%.
The health care facility is guided by Dr. Nagra andconstitutes of two experienced nurses, three housekeeping staff, and two otherdoctors from the society.
Vishal Singh says, “Seeing the suffering in my own family,I had no option but to set this facility up. It is high time we becomeselfless. No matter how much money or power you possess, this pandemic canaffect you.”