PayPal to support CSA Academy for Covid relief efforts

The Common Services Centers ( CSC ) of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has partnered with PayPal to offer immediate Covid relief facilities and drive awareness campaigns regarding prevention and care against pandemic in rural India.

PayPal will support the CSC Academy, CSR wing of CSC, in setting up PSA (Pressure Swing Absorbtion) oxygen plants in five hospitals in four states – one each in Bengaluru (Karnataka), Chennai (TN) and Jaunpur (UP) and two in Patna (Bihar). These plants will be fully automated, designed to work unattended with minimum start-up time to generate oxygen with the desired purity within minutes, said a statement from CSC.

Mobile vans, sponsored by PayPal, will create awareness and provide services like, antigen testing, registration for vaccination, basic Covid medicine kits and essential provisions in Karnataka, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh.

The Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) of CSC will manage these vans and help those without a smartphone to register for vaccination. They will also provide antigen testing and basic Covid-19 care medicine kits. Besides this, the vans will be equipped with cash withdrawal facility through DigiPay and supply essential provisions to citizens through CSC Grameen eStore at their doorstep.

CORONAVIRUS SPECIAL COVERAGE ONLY ON DH

PayPal will also support CSC Academy in training 50,000 VLEs, including 40,000 women VLEs, as Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) Ambassadors to raise awareness about preventive measures against Covid-19.

“This partnership with PayPal will enable a deeper in rural areas with immediate Covid relief measures like antigen testing, registration for vaccination, access to medicine kits, cash withdrawal and supply of essential provisions at their doorsteps," MD, CSC, Dinesh Tyagi said.

“We have been working closely with Meity & CSC on several initiatives over the years. We have now extended this partnership to promote Covid appropriate behavior, availability of medical facilities and expansion of the vaccination drive across Tier II cities," Nath Parameshwaran, Director, Corporate Affairs, PayPal India said.

The village-level entrepreneurs (VLEs) of CSCs will manage these vans and help those without a smartphone to register for vaccination. They will also provide antigen testing and basic Covid-19 care medicine kits.

The vans will also be equipped with oxygen cylinders to be used in emergency and give citizens access to telemedicine consultation with doctors through CSC, the statement said.

Sanjay Kumar Rakesh, CEO of CSC SPV, said the need of the hour is to provide appropriate and validated information about Covid prevention and management in rural and semi-urban India as the second wave of the pandemic is hitting these areas.

"Through this initiative, we will be able to address this information gap, while providing access to services and medical needs that have been disrupted by the pandemic,” he added.

As India reels under the impact of the deadly second wave of coronavirus infections, several organisations across the spectrum have come forward to support the relief efforts to tackle the shortage of medical oxygen, beds, and other resources.

Efforts to ramp up vaccination are also underway. India has so far administered over 20 crore jabs to eligible beneficiaries.

Bhavish Aggarwal, Chairman and Group CEO of ride-hailing platform Ola, tweeted that the company has vaccinated 50 per cent of its employees through a drive started last week.

"We're providing free and accessible vaccination to all employees and their family members. Vaccination is key to beating the virus and I encourage you to get vaccinated as soon as possible," he said in his tweet.

Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) said it has started a vaccination drive for employees on Wednesday at its Pune - Hinjewadi campus and will be extended to other facilities across the country (Powai, Mahape, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi/NCR).

LTI has partnered with healthcare service providers, including Jehangir Hospital, Manipal Hospital, Reliance Hospital, Apollo Hospitals, and Sarvodya Hospital to support this initiative, a statement said.

"Vaccines are the modern-day miracle and over the next few weeks, we would be vaccinating thousands of our employees and their loved ones across several cities. We have and will continue to fight the pandemic with our grit and resilience,” Sanjay Jalona, CEO and Managing Director of LTI, said.

The company has also set up a dedicated in-house quarantine facility at its STPI Campus in Bengaluru and isolation centres in Mumbai and Bangalore. All these centres are equipped with 24/7 nursing service, doctor and medication facilities.

Flipkart group company Myntra said over 33,000 customers from various cities have contributed more than 26 million Insider points (loyalty points), which has helped in adding 1.5 lakh kilograms of oxygen and facilitating medical care facilities at over 11,000 homes.

Edutech startup Bada Business said it had recently set up a two-day vaccination camp for its employees and their families in partnership with Fortis Healthcare.

"So far, over 300 people have been administered the first dose of Covaxin. All employees, ranging from full-time to contract as well as interns, are covered in the drive. The second dose of the vaccine will be rolled out by the third week of June," it said in a statement.

In the coming days, the company aims to cover over 1,800 people across all of its offices.

Bada Business has also launched a fundraiser campaign #IamOxygenMan in association with Vivek Oberoi, the Kailash Kher Foundation and ISKCON foundation.

With PTI inputs