The second wave of Covid hit India in April-June 2021. This was absolutely devastating in terms of loss of life. Apart from the healthcare emergency, there was also a complete lockdown which had a severe impact on the lives and livelihoods of migrants, labourers and the poor. The country faced a huge crisis of shortage of oxygen, medicines and huge case load. Mercy Mission NGOs continued their work in responding to the crisis in this entire period.
Covid Hospital: One of the MM NGOs, HBS Hospital, again became a dedicated COVID facility in April with 50 beds. In April-June 2020, HBS served 800 inpatients, 8700+ outpatients & became a leading COVID hospitals in Bengaluru. It also was among the few hospitals providing dialysis to COVID patients. In response to the huge requirement for Oxygenated beds, HBS added 24 beds to be able to admit and treat more patients. The 24 beds & equipment addition at HBS was supported by Rotary Midtown, MCKS, Prestige group, Sansera Foundation and Silverline Group.
Operationalizing Al Ameen Hospital: In May, HBS Hospital was invited by the management of Al Ameen Hospital in Vasanthnagar to open Covid operations. With strong eorts and support from MM NGOs, Al Ameen Covid Centre was made fully operational with 40 beds within 4 days. While HBS Hospital handled the medical aspects, MM team heads & volunteers handled all the non-medical responsibilities such as security, supplies, ambulance, operations, pantry, procurement, repairs & maintenance, installation, facility development, nursing assistants etc. 80 patients were treated at this facility.
Funds raised from Juniper Networks, Infocore and many other individuals and organizations were used for adding to the capacity addition at both hospitals. We are extremely grateful for the tremendous support received by the hospitals to enhance the Covid response.
Mercy Mission applied to Give India for an Oxygen Generation plant at Al Ameen Hospital. A 665 LPM O2 plant from Europe worth ₹1.25 Cr+ has been approved and installed.
Varcity Step-down Hospital: With the support of APPI, MM completely facilitated HBS Hospital to open & operate a hotel called Varcity Palace as an Oxygenated Centre having 32 rooms. This centre hosted patients recovering from COVID who were fit for discharge but needed close monitoring & Oxygen for some more time. It helped enhance hospital capacity & free beds for critical patients, and served to host doctors and nurses on Covid duty.
With the surge in demand in the 2nd wave, this model, now adopted and renamed by govt as “Step Down Hospital” opened on 30-Apr-2021. ~100 patients were admitted and benefitted from this facility. We are grateful to Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives (APPI) for their support to this activity in both the waves.
Mercy Angels (Covid 2.0): Unfortunately, we had to upscale Mercy Angels operations in April due to surge of deaths in the city. In two months of Apr 15 to Jun 15 2021, Mercy Angels did ~759 last journeys to crematoriums, cemeteries & burial grounds. 6 hearse vans and 38 volunteers worked incessantly to meet the demand. Various teams of volunteers worked across town providing this service. Vans were provided by Halai Memon Jamath, Al Ansaar Trust, Humanitarian Relief Society (HRS), Project Smile and HBS Hospital for this activity. We are indebted to Special Initiative Riders for donating a Maruti Eeco van to Mercy Angels for enabling a dignified farewell to the departed.
Covid Care Center (CCC) at St. Josephs: Given the rapid and extensive spread of Covid, one major response to reduce spread was to open CCCs and isolation facilities operated by NGOs in collaboration with hospitals. St. Joseph's College, Shantinagar, was one of the large CCCs in the city. The facility was created for underprivileged and the urban poor who were either asymptomatic and mild patients, and who could not isolate themselves in their houses without risking other family members. Mercy Mission worked with Hasiru Dala and Mission Vishwas who set up and ran this center. HBS Hospital was the medical partner for the CCC and took care of all escalations that came from this CCC.
Supporting Covid Care Centers In Hassan And Gulbarga: Mercy Mission also played a catalytic role in setting up CCC’s across Karnataka tying up with local medical teams & NGOs. We have supported in the setup of 2 facilities a 43 bed CCC in Hassan which started services on 15th May in collaboration with Hassan Humanitarian Services.
A 30 bedded CCC in Kalburgi started by the Humanitarian Relief Society commenced treatments on 23rd May. These CCCs are the first line support to patients and are providing beds FREE OF COST in rural areas. MM has despatched a total of 2 BiPAPs, 2 Monitors, 96 oxygen cylinders along with PPE kits, Masks, face shields and Oximeters to these two locations. A total of 263 inpatients and 842 outpatients have benefitted from the FREE OF COST services that were provided.
Mercy Oxygen: The Second wave of Covid-19 has seen the biggest crisis of oxygen, as the daily demand exceeded the availability. Given the huge shortage of Oxygen, MM operated Eight Mercy Oxygen Centres across Bengaluru. Basavanagudi, Bhoopsandra, Mysore Road, Frazer Town, Mahadevapura, Kaggadasapura, Valmikinagar and Koramangala. A huge surge in demand resulted in 10,800+ requests, with a total of 1,316 cylinder concentrator requirements being met. A volunteer team of 24 handled the Oxygen centers.
We are grateful for the support provided by KCVT, Dr. Vasu & team, MCKS, Titan, Mitsubishi Power Systems, NTT Data, World Health & Education group, Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Donatekart & Oxygen for India for providing significant help in procurement of the cylinders & concentrators. Additional cylinders & concentrators were procured to meet the huge gap in demand and supply. MM NGOs bought ~490 jumbo oxygen cylinders , 30 small cylinders & 20+ concentrators during this pandemic.
One of the key differences of the 2nd wave is that it spread into the districts and rural areas much more than in the 1st wave. Oxygen availability and patient support infrastructure in these areas is alarmingly low, as compared to Bengaluru. To respond to this challenge, Mercy Mission (MM) worked to identify NGOs who were working on the ground for Covid response in cities in North Karnataka and provided them with a starter kit to provide oxygen support to patients.
A total of 88 cylinders, 102 concentrators, 41 regulators, 180 pulse oximeters, 605 O2 masks, 220 Face Shields and 367 PPE Kits were despatched to 11 such NGO partners in the following cities – Ballari, Belgaum, Bidar, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gangavathi, Hubli, Kalburgi, Kerebilchi and Raichur. We are grateful to NRI donors from Germany, UAE & Singapore for sponsoring the concentrators and oxygen cylinders for this activity.
Mercy Ambulances: To reduce the burden of exorbitant pricing for ambulance services to patients, MM had a total fleet of 8 ambulances equipped with Oxygen to transport patients. Totally, 404 trips have been done in 2 months out of 828 requests. Of these, 220 trips were free for the poor, and nominal charges on a not-for-profit basis were recovered from others to enable operational sustainability. 2 ambulances are now being fitted with Ventilators to enable inter-city ICU transfers. We are thankful to Wipro, who have donated an ICU on wheels ambulance worth Rs 25 lakhs to Mercy Mission.
Mercy Plasma: An initiative to meet the plasma requests for covid treatment by identifying potential donors and coordinating the donation and connecting to recipients separately through hospitals. Since April 2021, the demand surged and MM had received 2,351 requests, of which we were able to help 305 units.
MM NGOs organised a total of 11 Antibody Testing Camps to identify potential plasma donors. We thank all our volunteers who donated for this noble cause. We thank our key partners in this activity – BMST, Jeevaraksha, Victoria & HCG. We stopped this activity on 18th May 2021 when ICMR dropped plasma from the treatment guidelines.
Mercy Online Clinic: MM relaunched a free Mercy Clinic Mobile App to give sound medical advice, right information and guidance to people during Covid 2.0. 15 Doctors enrolled & provided online video consultations. 400+ free consultations were done.
Partial lockdown commenced in our city from 20th April 2021 and complete lockdown since 27th April went on till June 14th. MM NGOs got into action, procured and distributed dry ration kits during the months of April & May 2020 to help ensure that those who have lost their livelihood can have food on their table. In these two months, MM NGOs have bought and distributed 11,036 dry ration kits worth approx. 1.85 Cr. In June 2021, through APPI support, a total of 45,531 kits were distributed.
31,736 kits were given in Bengaluru
7,295 kits distributed in surrounding towns – Malur, Anekal, Kolar, Channapatna, Dodballapur etc.
6,500 kits in 7 villages of Sarjapur
MM developed a modern, hygienic kitchen facility in order to prepare a nutritious full meal to the frontline warriors (doctors & hospital sta), COVID patients and the poor. This Mercy Kitchen was set up at Crescent Institutions, Basavanagudi. It served the needs of patients and sta at HBS Hospital, Al Ameen Hospital, Varcity Step Down Hospital, Jeevan Jyoti CCC, the elderly in Arul-Ragigudda slum, and a Homeless night shelter in a temple in Kalasipalyam. It served 35,297 meals in 2 months.
In addition, 9 Mercy Kitchens are being run by MM NGOs – in Basavanagudi, Bhoopsandra, Nayandahalli, Govindpura, Tilaknagar, Yeshwantpur, Mysore Road, Mahadevpura and DJ Halli). They served around ~3 lakh meals worth approx. 75L in 2021.
A centralized public helpline was set-up by Mercy Mission to reach out to the patients requiring Ambulance, Oxygen, Mercy Sahay, Home care and Bed Guidance services. A team of 30+ volunteers and 20 sta are operating the helpline. We received 1.25 lakhs calls during the 2 months of the 2nd wave, of which 55,000+ were unique numbers. We have been able to respond to ~27,000 calls using this resource.