People from all walks of life must work with the government in its efforts to tackle the present crisis as COVID-19 cases are rising, said Su. Venkatesan, MP, here on Sunday.
He was addressing the participants through a virtual platform after inaugurating ‘covidfreemadurai.in’ and a COVID-19 helpline, run by a group of volunteers from various sections of the society. Mr. Venkatesan said that around 8,000 COVID-19 positive patients are taking treatment in Madurai. In each of the government hospitals, private hospitals, COVID-19 Care Centres and home isolation, around 2,000 patients are under treatment.
Only four private hospitals in the district have around 100 oxygen-supported beds each to treat COVID-19 patients. So, the rest of the patients have to be treated in government hospitals. “Government Rajaji Hospital is the one with highest capacity of oxygen with around 26 Kl. But, the current situation is such that the beds are almost occupied,” he said. Hence, all sections of the people must work together with the government to help in tackling the crisis, the MP added.
Shivarajah Ramanathan, Founder and CEO of Nativelead; J. K. Muthu, Managing Director of Kamalam Group; Thirumurugan Subburaj, Head Operations of HCL, Madurai; and Umadevi Sathiyarajan, Director, Hive IT Sheeevaari Consulting, London; are the lead volunteers for the initiative.
Ms. Umadevi explained that the web portal would guide the public regarding availability of beds, oxygen support, blood and other needs in Madurai district. Apart from this, the telephone service, which operates on 044 46313133, works round the clock to also guide the public. A team of volunteers are deployed to guide the public through the helpline number.
Mr. Shivarajah said they aim to spread this initiative to other districts to help the public.
Karthikeya Sivasenapathi, State secretary of DMK’s Environmental Protection Wing; and K. Sivaraman, renowned Siddha practitioner, also attended the event.
