Residents pitch in to set up Covid care centre in Noida

What began as a single-bed service with oxygen support at the Community Centre in Noida has grown to a 14-bed facility

The death of an old lady in search of a hospital bed late April prompted a group of residents in neighbouring Noida to get together to start a Covid Care Centre with oxygen support.

What began from May 1 as a single-bed service with oxygen support at the Community Centre in Sector 50 of Noida has now grown to a 14-bed facility that has helped save lives of Covid-19 patients.

“We were able to save the life of one patient, Jagadish, who was brought to the centre with an oxygen level of 35. The nurse at the centre immediately put him on oxygen support,” Aanchal Bohra, a businessman associated with the Resident Welfare Association of Noida Sector 15, told DH.

The nurse got in touch with the district officials and arranged an ICU bed for Jagadish, who is now stable but on ventilator support with much improved oxygen level, said Bohra.

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“We were disturbed when we could not find a hospital bed for an old lady on April 28. We kept moving around Noida and Greater Noida with the lady in a car but in vain,” Vimal Sharma, President of the Noida Sector 50 RWA said.

He said the old lady breathed her last in the car which eventually was taken to a cremation ground to perform the last rites.

“Some of us got together the next day and arranged for an oxygen cylinder and started an isolation facility at the Community Centre,” Sharma said, adding that the number of beds gradually increased to nine and now 14.

The facility runs 24x7 and has deployed nurses and has provision for online consultation with doctors. A helpdesk has also been set up in case a patient develops some complication and requires hospitalisation.

The facility had about nine patients – the maximum – on May 9-10 and volunteers at the centre had their hands full in organising proper care for them.

“We do not have a single patient on Sunday. Thankfully, cases have also come down,” Sharma said.