IMPRESSIONS from a Cross-section

Topic

What is the relief being provided and at what cost?

Donating 20,000 N95 masks to hospitals & NGOs

The second wave of the pandemic brought large scale devastation to the country leaving every other industry in a spot. Fibre2Fashion enquired with some textile and apparel companies about the kind of support they provided to hospitals and care centres as part of their corporate social responsibility.

Puran Dawar
President and Chief Trustee, Agra Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Chamber (AFMEC) Trust

We constituted AFMEC Trust for the purpose of Covid relief. In less than two weeks, we have created a 350-bed facility at Agra Trade Centre located in Singhna village on National Highway 2 with state-of-the-art facilities. The centre has piped oxygen supply on 60 beds and oxygen concentrators on 200 beds. For patients in critical condition, arrangement of a 15-bed ICU facility has been made. The medical services will be managed by the health department of the district administration. Treatment for patients below the poverty line will be free of cost. Others will have to pay nominal charges.

Karan Bose
Managing Director, Hula Global Apparel

We are donating 20,000 N95 masks to hospitals and NGOs supporting frontline workers. The approximate cost for this would be ₹3 lakh.

Vidur Adlakha & Riccardo Bennidini
Founder, La Fuori

Due to the shortage in masks in most hospitals and clinics, since August 2020, Là Fuori has joined hands with the artisan community in Barmer, Rajasthan to produce pure organic cotton masks and have been actively distributing them free of cost to hospitals, Covid facilities and people.

Akash Khetan
Executive Director, Narayan Texfab Pvt Ltd

As the vice chairman of Surat Cosmo Round Table India (NGO), we started with serving oxygen concentrator machines for free to the home quarantined patients or those who wish to be discharged from the hospital after Covid treatment. Without these machines, doctors do not allow patients to get discharged. These machines are of 5 litres capacity.

HS Jha
Vice-President (Human Resources), Pratibha Syntex

Pratibha Syntex joins the movement to save covid-19 affected people by donating 1,000 beds and hospital clothing for 2,000 patients at the unique Maa Ahilya Covid Care Centre in Indore.

1. 15,000 Kada capsules donated at Sagore to employees;

2. 40,000 masks, 20,000 gloves, 600 PPE kits, 40 sets of mattresses with pillows and bedsheets to Pithampur COVID Centre, Police Memorial and NGOs;

3. Donation of ₹5 lakh for medicines to MGM Medical College, Indore and ₹1 lakh to CII Foundation;

4. Distribution of wheat and rice in Pithampur area;

5. Oxygen cylinders to Indore and Pithampur hospitals.

Sarabjeet Saluja
Founder, Saundh

Saundh has joined hands with a Surat-based NGO to set up a 100 bed Covid treatment facility near its factory in Surat. The set-up is already live with 40-beds and increasing, and not only includes medical supplies but also food and other necessities, free of cost.

Suchita Oswal Jain
Vice-Chairman and Joint Managing Director, Vardhman Textiles Limited

Since the pandemic hit the country, we started manufacturing masks and PPE kits and the same have been provided to local administration, medical staff and frontline workers free of cost. We have also established Covid care wards and isolation centres in some hospitals and, in the light of the present situation, make-shift hospitals are being set up. The facility with 100 beds is operational in the BBN area of Baddi, Himachal Pradesh and similar move is planned for Budhni, Madhya Pradesh.

We also provided Covid testing machines in Madhya Pradesh and established Covid testing kiosks to minimise risk to the health workers collecting samples. Financially too, we provided a sum of ₹7.5 crore last year to the PM Care and CM's relief funds, and recently we contributed ₹30 lakh and ₹25 lakh to the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh and Dayanand Medical College & Hospital (DMCH), Ludhiana respectively for the treatment of poor patients.

Our steel unit-Vardhman Special Steels Limited-is providing 1,500 oxygen cylinders per day to nearby hospitals in Ludhiana.

This article was first published in the June 2021 edition of the print magazine.

Published on: 11/06/2021

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.

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