News From Gujarat
We’ve recently heard from our friends at the Jay Ambe hospital in Chaparda and share this news…
The first wave of Covid-19 was relatively benign in India, however, as we have all seen on the news, the second wave ‘Indian variant’ has been devastating with medical services across the country unable to cope and desperately short of oxygen supplies.
Two weeks ago, WM responded to a call to help fund an oxygen generator for the Jay Ambe hospital at Chaparda. While we are always very careful how charity funds are used, the WM team were very motivated to help the community hospital which has hosted so many acupuncture camps over the years. Because of covid, we were not able to travel to India last January so we decided to donate the funds we would have used as a way of helping the same people we would normally have seen from local villages.
The oxygen generator is now installed, working, and supplying oxygen to the hospital and the isolated covid wards that have been set up adjacent to the hospital.
Government attempts to roll out a vaccination programme has been severely affected as Cyclone Tauktae hit the west coast wreaking havoc with many lives lost. The 120 mile/hr winds damaged 16,000 houses in Gujarat alone, ripping up trees and downing power lines. A second cyclone is expected to follow hitting the east coast of the country within the next few days.
In the wake of this there are additional worries: there is a growing awareness that many post covid patients, particularly diabetics and others with immunosuppressed conditions are very susceptible to Mucormycosis, referred to as ‘black fungus’ which can have fatal consequences if not treated promptly.
India is indeed suffering – with the poorest suffering the most, and our thoughts and prayers go out to them.
Keeping it in the family, Rafe’s Aunty Steph has also been busy!
