Noble at heart: He helped out 500 families

Forty-year-old Ameen-E-Mudassar, an engineer by training, worked tirelessly to provide relief to the families affected during the Covid-19 pandemic. His websites providing information regarding vacant beds and oxygen cylinders, soon began attracting huge responses. Mudassar also tied up with GiveIndia Foundation and over 500 families were provided economic relief, Y. Maheswara Reddy reports.

Meet Ameen-E-Mudassar who played a key role in mitigating financial problems of 508 families impacted by deadly Covid-19 pandemic during the second wave.

Interestingly, Mudassar used to be averse towards visiting hospitals or becoming a doctor. “I opted for engineering just to avoid becoming a medico. I have developed an aversion towards medicines or people suffering from bleeding injuries but Covid-19 pandemic made me know a lot about medicines,’’ says Mudassar.

It all began when he, along with his friends, established an emergency response team on July 1 last year to help people affected with coronavirus, but soon he himself tested positive for the virus on July 10.

“I got admitted to Shifa Hospital on Queen’s Road on July 11. By evening, I came to know that other members of my family have also tested positive for coronavirus. During my hospitalization, I decided to have a central repository, a database for medicines, to help the Covid-affected people,” says Mudassar.

The 40-year-old CEO of CIGMA Foundation wanted to reach out to more and more people through the digital platform and wanted to utilise his experience of creating websites for the students who are interested in improving their career development. “I was aware that digital platforms (websites) have the potential to reach remote areas. We have established covidhelplinebangalore.com and the response was huge,’’ says Mudassar.

He said that around one lakh people have visited the website for information within eight days and the number has been increased to two lakhs during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic. “More and more people began visiting our website with the commencement of Covid-19 second wave in April 2021. We have facilitated 10 steps to help the visitors to have information on medical facilities for patients. It has a dedicated page to provide information on the availability of oxygen. Ten volunteers were assigned to provide data on oxygen and availability of beds,” he recalls.

According to him, the website has all the information including availability of beds, government fever clinics for free testing, ambulance services, rapid antigen tests, information on recovery rate, medical staff recruitment and other issues.

Later, he came into contact with the Chief Executive Officer of GiveIndia Foundation. It made him reach more than 500 needy families that were impacted by caronavirus. The GiveIndia Foundation wanted to provide financial assistance to Covid-affected families and invited applications.

“We have received 760 applications seeking financial aid. We have succeeded in getting financial assistance of Rs 30,000 each for 508 families. I have no face to face contact with those families. I just played a catalyst role in this mission to provide the much needed solace for these families,” he says.

All was not well with him after getting discharged from Shifa Hospital on July 17, 2020. He recovered from Covid and worked hard to help people affected with the virus during the second wave, but he soon became depressed by the widespread damage caused by the virus. “My personal phone number became public in April 2021. Patients, families, including people known to me, began seeking my help to get oxygen and beds at hospitals. A few of them passed away by the time I reached out to help them. One of my employees lost his parents within a span of three days. I became helpless, this made me undergo depression. I have to thank the almighty for helping me to recover from Covid and help people affected by coronavirus,” he signs off with a gratitude to God and hopes to serve more and more people.

Pregnant women should be alert- Dr Namita Kapoor Sahgal, Consultant obstetrician-gynecologist, Manipal Hospital Varthur Road

Covid-19 has brought a sense of uncertainty and fear, especially for the pregnant women. With limited information available about the impact of Covid-19 on pregnant women and foetus, healthcare providers have a tough time answering their queries.

There is no evidence to support that pregnant women have higher chances of contracting Covid-19. However, if they test positive for the virus, they are at increased risk of getting seriously ill, needing hospitalisation or in worse cases may be admitted to ICU requiring mechanical ventilation.

Women with medical disorders, such as dia