While India is in the grip of the second wave of COVID-19, there are many families in remote areas of India who are not able to get medical assistance.
The lockdown added more to this problem where even if people want to, they are not able to travel to medical centers and avail medical support. One of our on-ground partners in Madhya Pradesh pitched in to leverage this situation and has been successful in bringing medical assistance to doorsteps for the families who cannot visit doctors during the current health crisis in a couple of districts of Madhya Pradesh. Along with closely working with the local health care system in Shahpur, Butur and Hoshangabad districts of Madhya Pradesh, Eklavya has recently started an online consultancy service for the local community members in remote villages. This facility of online consultation serves as a ray of hope in villages where there is a very little access to health care facilities. Some experienced and expert doctors from the cities give their energy and time for this online consultancy through Zoom Calls. Recently, two gynecologists also joined the panel of doctors for online consultations.
This is an outcome of combined efforts of many people to provide support to the community members. While Vibha has been supporting Eklavya to provide medicines to the needy families, a team of technology experts based in Delhi is helping with the technology part of this initiative. More than 100 patients have been treated in the last 8 days.
The Eklavya field staff is working round the clock to spread awareness about this initiative, by talking to patients, taking notes about sickness history, training the village people in using zoom, sharing prescriptions and instructions in Hindi and/or local language and lastly following up with these patients on a regular basis.
After seeing continuous efforts by the Eklavya team to support medical centers in combating the pandemic, the local store owners and officials, including police officers have also started supporting Eklavya. Moved by this health initiative (supported by Vibha), a local medical store owner in Shahpur, has come forward to donate some generic medicines and also to give all other medicines prescribed by Eklavya’s doctors at reduced prices.
The partnership of Vibha and Eklavya is limited to the health crisis response, Vibha partnered with Eklavya in 2016 to support their program in the education sector. As an organization, Eklavya is deeply embedded in concepts, notions, thoughts, and actions, all geared towards a better education for children. Their focus has not been only on academic development but has also emphasized the need for the holistic development of children.
