Corona slaat nog steeds toe in India. In Delhi neemt het aantal besmettingen langzaam aan toe in de slums Bawana en Badarpur, waarin we actief zijn met TARA. In Chennai is er opnieuw een uitbraak en werd er een aantal dagen geleden een totale lockdown aangekondigd. In Bhubaneswar, de derde plaats waar we werken, blijft het relatief rustig. De staat Orissa, waarvan Bhubaneswar de hoofdstad is, nam al vroeg beschermende maatregelen en een lockdown , waardoor er weinig besmettingen zijn.
Vrijdag ontvingen we onderstaande email van Moon, over de toestand in Delhi, waar er meer en meer mensen besmet zijn, de ziekenhuizen met tekort aan materiaal geconfronteerd worden (onvoldoende zuurstofapparatuur, onvoloende beademingsapparatuur) en geen mensen uit de slums toelaten. Daardoor wordt het gezondheidscentrum van TARA in de slum van Badarpur overbelast. Onze vrienden werken er met hart en ziel, ondanks het besmettingsgevaar, maar ze kunnen alleen maar eerste hulp bieden…
Dear Herman,
We sincerely hope you all are well and in good health.
The world continues to be in difficult times, with the problems emerging one after another. It has been worrying to know about the racial discrimination and the killing of George Floyd in USA. We hope that the protest there will bring new awakening and understanding about the importance of human dignity and co-existence. The problem of discrimination is not only limited to USA, but also in many other countries including in India, it continues to exist, in spite of the constitutional laws, where all are considered equal. It is a slow process to change the society and its mind set. The world has to change. We have many inspiring examples in our movement of care, love, sharing and harmony. We strongly believe that another world is possible.
As informed earlier, the situation here continues to be worrisome. The thick and densely populated cities and many other areas are badly affected. The situation is far from satisfactory. In spite of the efforts of the government, matters are getting worse.
People are dying, due to the non-availability of medical treatment. It has also become very difficult to get admission in hospitals. There is also a serious shortage of oxygen facilities and ventilators. The worst victims are the poorest, as it is extremely difficult for them to get admitted into the hospitals. Unfortunately, we are expecting the hardest weeks ahead with the rapid surge of the Covid cases every day. We have crossed more than 298000 cases with more than 8500 deaths. There is hardly any space available in hospitals or at cremation grounds, while the infected cases continue to increase on a daily basis.
Since the situation is becoming very serious, we are not able to resume working normally. A few of us are working from the office, as informed earlier. Our ground activities continue to be very slow, except the regular working in the Badarpur health care centre on the demand of the local members. There are more patients than usual. It is also due to overflow of patients in the general hospitals and the inadequate number of doctors and infrastructure to treat the patients. But our health centre is able to provide only primary health support, which is very important in these critical times. Thanks to the health team. They continue to work in spite of the high risk involved. Due to asymptomatic cases and very less testing facilities available, the situation is more difficult. More and more patients with breathing problems are visiting the health centre.
In the last several days, many patients have died due to the non-availability and the shortage of oxygen on time.
In Badarpur, things were under control till last week. But this week several Corona positive cases have emerged. Sunita and a few other volunteers / artisans in Badarpur were immediately active to handle this crisis.
Ramesh is recovering though it is very hot and humid weather and these are not very comfortable times. We stay connected with him and try to help as much as possible in the given scenario.
In Bawana, twice we had distributed food material to more than 100 families. Due to dense population in the area and the limitations of the health workers the work continues to be affected. So far the CP children and sponsorship children are well and safe.
On the other hand, Suman has been more compassionate and performing better, handling Self Help Groups and organizing food actions. She is also willing to be more active. It will also make her more independent and will be better in the long run hopefully. Her husband has been behaving better now. Fortunately, so far not many cases of Covid 19 have emerged there. But on the other hand there are hardly any tests done and many may be asymptomatic cases.
We look forward to hearing from you again.
With best wishes
Moon
