Young volunteers help in improving condition of domiciliary care centres in Kerala

Two young volunteers from the Alappuzha district in Kerala who carried a Covid-19 patient suffering from chest pain in a two-wheeler to a hospital are receiving much appreciation as their act had even brought to the government's attention the lack of basic facilities at domiciliary Covid-19 care centres across the state.

Domiciliary Covid-19 care centres are set up at grass root level by local bodies to accommodate asymptomatic Covid-19 patients who do not have adequate quarantine facilities at home.

Aswin and Rekha, who are in their early twenties, had carried a Covid-19 patient at a domiciliary Covid-19 care centre at Punnapra in Alappuzha on Friday after he suffered from chest pain. The video of the two wearing PPE kits carrying the patient by making him sit in the middle of the motorcycle has gone viral. The two were volunteers involved in supplying food to domiciliary care centres. The absence of medical staff and delay in getting an ambulance made the two swiftly decide to take the patients to the hospital in their two-wheeler.

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The act of the two had received much appreciation from various quarters. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had also appreciated the act of the two which helped in giving timely medical care to the patient.

With the incident highlighting the lack of adequate facilities at the Covid-19 care centres, the Chief Minister also directed the local bodies to ensure adequate basic facilities at the Covid-19 domiciliary Covid-19 care centres. Arrangements for shifting patients from domiciliary care centres to hospitals in case of emergency was also initiated. The medical shifting facilities are being strengthened by directing local bodies to arrange alternative vehicles so as to avoid delay in shifting patients due to the unavailability of ambulances.