Forest guards at dozens of remote camps in the Sunderbans are now slightly better equipped to deal with Covid-related emergencies.

In a month-long drive, an NGO that works to reduce human-wildlife conflict provided medical kits and oxygen concentrators to forest camps and range offices in the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve.

The reserve has four range offices — Sunderbans National Park East and West, Sajnekhali and Basirhat.

Last week, an oxygen concentrator was provided to each range office. Earlier this month, health kits were provided to around two dozen forest camps, some of them on rivers. Each kit contained oximeters, oxygen canisters, blood pressure monitoring machines and digital thermometers, among other things. “These kits and concentrators will make us slightly better equipped to deal with emergencies,” said Tapas Das, the field director of the STR.

“It becomes very difficult to arrange primary treatment at these camps during an emergency,” said Joydip Kundu of the Society for Heritage & Ecological Research (SHER), the NGO that provided the help. Affected residents, too, can take help of oxygen concentrators during an emergency, said Kundu.