Marwari Sahayak Samiti, a social organisation, has begun an initiative to offer free oxygen cylinders to Covid patients in home quarantine.

Suresh Chandra Agarwal, one of the advisers of the samiti, said they started this drive about 10 days ago by gathering funds from members of the Marwari Samajh with the aim to assist anyone in need in times of the pandemic.

“Initially, we began with two-three cylinders but as the initiative spread through word of mouth, likeminded individuals and a few more social groups donated funds to support our work. Today, we have managed to procure 35 cylinders in our stocks,” said Agarwal, adding that their service is open for all class of people irrespective of their social status.

“It is because the virus doesn’t discriminate between caste and creed and hence, it is time for everyone to unite to defeat the pandemic. That is the motto with which we rolled out our service,” he said, adding that handsome donations have equipped them with enough resources to increase their inventory of cylinders as per the demand.

Home isolation is allowed for those who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and doesn’t require hospitalisation. According to the health department’s standard operating procedures, it is mandatory for the patient to routinely monitor their oxygen saturation levels, which should consistently remain at least above 90%. Anything below this could be lethal.

Agarwal, a businessman and social worker, said that during the initial days when the district administration implemented home isolation rule, many asymptomatic people struggled with poor oxygen levels and had to be rushed to hospitals.

“Arranging private oxygen facilities wasn’t easy as many hospitals even didn’t supply it readily due to various issues. That’s when our outfit decided to rollout this service to help the people,” he said.

Manish Lodha, one of the nodal persons taking care of the day to day operations, said that on an average five to six fresh requests are coming to them.

“We are open 24X7. Anyone requiring help with the cylinders can contact 7004702476/9430142321/7004501709,” he said.

A beneficiary however has to submit a mandatory refundable deposit of Rs 5000. Agarwal added that only in exceptional cases they relax the mandatory refundable deposit rule but try not to deny service to anyone.

A similar initiative was started in Jamshedpur over a week back by another social unit the Marwari Yuva Samit. A community of Jains too is considering a similar service in Ranchi while another social outfit is looking into the possibility to start it in Dhanbad soon.