COVID-19 Crisis in India - A thread

India is currently witnessing one of the worst escalations of COVID-19 in the world. In the past 24 hours, we have recorded more than 330,000 cases and thousands of deaths. In Delhi alone, a person is dying of COVID every four minutes- this is devastating and simply unacceptable

Our healthcare system is stretched beyond it’s limits, with hospitals in lower income and metropolitan cities reporting huge shortages of Oxygen and medical supplies, crematoriums overpopulated and families overwhelmed, waiting in parking lots to cremate their lost loved ones

As an International student who has lost three relatives with one in critical condition to this crisis, I am personally impacted by this tragedy and believe that it is my responsibility as a person with the privilege of being in the US, to do my part to help my community

Our student organisation, @NYUSilver ‘s Graduate Indian Student Organization (GISO) has partnered up with @NAAISORG and the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), with logistics provided from the Indian Embassy, to raise funds for procuring Oxygen tanks

We will be sending these Oxygen tanks directly to hospitals in the most hard-hit regions of India, as a part of NAAIS’s North American wide campaign to unite all Indian student orgs in North America to do a collective crowdfunding campaign, #StudentsAgainstCovidIndia

India has a daily production capacity of 7,700 tons of oxygen with our current daily demand having reached 8,800 tons. We need to provide immediate aid that will go towards replenishing India’s O2 supply to meet the current demand; one O2 tank is $500, and can support 4 people

Through the kindness and generosity of our friends and the @NYUSilver community, we have been able to raise enough funds for four O2 tanks and are currently progressing towards raising funds for our fifth tank- this can cumulatively provide 20 individuals with life saving Oxygen

I understand that everyone may not have the ability or capacity to contribute to this fundraiser. However, I implore you to share this information within your networks and talk about it among your circles- every little bit helps and can potentially save a life!

We must come together at this time and support each other in relief efforts. If you are able, please donate by sending funds to GISO’s Venmo: @GISO-StudentsAgainstCovid19, last four digits to confirm are 1956

Thank you for reading this far and contributing I will be linking other orgs below that are also doing relief work and sending O2, medical supplies, food and other resources to India!

The Kolkata Foundation : https://www.kolkatafoundation.org/fundraiser/?campaign=covid-secondwave
Along with Mukti NGO, they are acquiring portable oxygen concentrators that can be distributed to people in need within Kolkata (another hard-hit region of India)

Khalsa Aid: https://www.khalsaaid.org  - “Supporting medical networks across India, comprising of established medical organisations, facilities and NGO’s who are working on the ground to assist COVID-19 patients.”