Coronavirus lockdown: Tamil Nadu volunteer network helps needy get medicines at home

Sitting in far-away Ahmedabad, Ravikumar, who works with Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), was worried about his 89-year-old mother who lives alone in Tamil Nadu’s Tenkasi district. She was unwell and needed medical attention, but Ravikumar could not even ask his relatives to go and attend to her due to the lockdown.

And this CISF personnel thought of trying his luck by tweeting to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami highlighting his mother’s plight and seeking help on April 21. The very next day, two doctors landed up at his house, did a complete health check up on his mother Subbammal and handed over the needed medicines.

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Palaniswami himself tweeted a reply to Ravikumar by posting a picture of his mother with the medicines that she needed. This heart-warming incident is just a slice of how a network of volunteers, doctors and district administration is working wonders in helping the needy during the Covid-19 lockdown period.

Several district administrations in Tamil Nadu have been using the volunteer network to deliver medicines for the aged, cancer patients and others who cannot get them in their towns and villages.

People who volunteer to offer their services during the lockdown period register on a website and the government “recruits” them after due checks and mandatory health check-ups. District collectors and Superintendents of Police have been walking the extra mile to ensure patients get their tablets on time without having to travel.

And, social media, especially Twitter, is serving as a bridge between the government and the people. “During pandemic or any other health emergency, we launch a helpline for people to get in touch with us. Twitter and other platforms are now providing everyone the opportunity to reach out anyone resulting in the good,” Tenkasi District Collector G K Arun Sundar Thayalan told DH.

Thayalan sent a team of two doctors to Subbammal’s house to deliver medicines and also arranged tablets for a young cancer patient after her relatives tweeted out help to the Chief Minister last week. In neighbouring Tirunelveli district, the city police has been helping those in villages get their medicines delivered at their doorstep.

“Social media acts as a bridge between the administration and the people. If we do, we get complimented and if we do not, we get brickbats on the same platform. And we are able to help people with the volunteers who really help us reach people even in remote areas. All medicines are not available in villages and towns and when people seek help, we ensure their needs are fulfilled,” A Saravanan, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Tirunelveli, told DH.

Thayalan said more than 1,600 people have registered themselves to volunteer during the lockdown and they are used to deliver groceries for those in containment zones, maintain social distancing in markets and to deliver medicines.

In Tiruvallur district neighbouring Chennai too, medicines are being delivered to those living in hilly and interior areas by volunteers and home guards. District Superintendent of Police P Aravindhan has been tweeting about the help rendered by volunteers and other members of the administration in reaching the needy.

Two police men reached a nondescript village called Pathirivedu to deliver medicines for a 12-year-old boy who was suffering from kidney ailment.