More than 1,000 oxygen concentrators are being shipped to India to help with the pandemic crisis there, thanks to the efforts of the Council of Indian Organizations of Greater Philadelphia.
The lifesaving devices are among many supplies that people of Indian heritage and others in the Delaware Valley have provided to India in recent weeks.
Paresh Birla, of Lower Makefield, is council president and, as such, is directing the work to help people in his native land where variants of the coronavirus have emerged in the past two months, causing scores of infections and fatalities. Medical supplies, particularly oxygen cannisters, have become scarce as the nation of 1.3 billion people grapples with the ongoing pandemic.
Birla said that vaccines manufactured in India had previously been sent to countries in Asia, Africa and South America as well as to United Nations peacekeepers. According to data from the Indian Ministry for External Affairs, the country has shipped vaccines to 95 other countries as of May 12. But now India needs the world's help to overcome the devastating new surge in cases there.
"There are multiple different efforts," Birla said, as there are 33 organizations within the Greater Philadelphia council representing the different ethnic groups within the 29 states and seven territories in India.
The organizations are funneling aid to two relief programs, Vibha, a charitable organization that focuses on helping underprivileged children both in India and the United States, and Sewa International, a Hindu faith-based charitable nonprofit.
Sewa International so far has raised more than $16 million to help with Indian relief , the charity announced, and the UPS Foundation has partnered with Sewa to ship supplies from New York to New Delhi.
“We have received phenomenal support from across the U.S. for our ‘Help India Defeat COVID-19 campaign.’ Many corporations, hospitals, and community organizations are calling us to offer help. Sewa volunteers are working hard to connect the dots. We thank all those who have given help and continue to offer support to Sewa in this time of crisis,” Sewa President Arun Kankani said.
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Vibha has started a "Save Lives, Save India Campaign" with a goal of $1 million. So far, more than $700,000 has been collected.
Birla said the local council is also lobbying the White House to make changes in the Vaccine Defense Production Act. When the pandemic first struck the United States, "everybody wanted to make sure the U.S. had enough vaccine. COVID is under control. Right now there is a plan to ask the White House to make sure the raw materials are available for India to make vaccine," he said, as well as efforts to have surplus vaccines sent to India so people there can get vaccinated.
Bucks County businessman Jignesh "Jay' Pandya, who plans to bring the headquarters for his Boston Market and Corner Bakery stores to Bensalem, said his firm is working through a program called "I Breathe for India" to purchase oxygen concentrators.
"We already have been securing and shipping them," he said. "We support them wholeheartedly."
Divysh Patel, priest at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, a Hindu temple in Levittown, said that BAPSCharities.com was assisting with relief efforts as well. "We do lots of help to COVID in India and over here as well," he said.
The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin is also providing online consultation services to people in India who have questions about the coronavirus or other medical conditions.
"American Association of Physician's of Indian Origin (AAPI) and Federation of Indian Physicians Association (FIPA) have been working relentlessly to collect funds and partnering with other organizations," said Vasu Singh, a medical doctor in Lehigh County who served as past president of the AAPI Lehigh chapter. "India is in desperate need of PPE, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, hospital equipment, medicines, vaccines and health care professionals. Many physicians living in the U.S. are volunteering to consult patients via telemedicine."
Several religious organizations, including Catholic Relief Services, Indian Muslim Relief & Charities, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Lutheran World Relief also have websites where people can donate to help the people in India recover from the ongoing COVID crisis there.
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Dr. Umar Farooq, of Bensalem, is a physician who chairs an organization called RECAP (Reaching and Empowering Communities Across Pennsylvania) which serves the Southeast Asian community here in the state.
He also is the board chair of Bucks County New American Advisory Commission that aims to help new immigrants settling in the county. Farooq, who is from Pakistan and an internal medicine specialist with Knights Medical Associates in Bensalem, said his office has coronavirus vaccines that he would like to give it to any new immigrant or other resident who needs to be vaccinated.
He is offering them 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays at the Knights Medical Associates 3034 Knights Road, Bensalem. The office has a Spanish-speaking staff member. Walk-ins are welcome and the vaccines are free.
"ID is not required," he said, for people to be vaccinated, so he urged anyone needing a vaccination to contact his office at 215-638-7400.
Source
https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/story/news/2021/05/15/coronavirus-india-bucks-county-community-sends-aid-homeland/4987106001/
