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- From Thermal Screenings To Home Delivery Of Medicines, Meet The NGO From Pune Fighting The Pandemic On Multiple Fronts
From Thermal Screenings To Home Delivery Of Medicines, Meet The NGO From Pune Fighting The Pandemic On Multiple Fronts
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, a Pune based NGO Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS) started assisting the Urban Local Bodies in the containment efforts of Maharashtra's twin cities, Pune and Mumbai. BJS, which was established in 1985 with an aim to work in the areas of disaster response, health and education, has been conducting mass thermal screenings of the citizens, organising testing camps and several awareness drives and running mobile dispensary to provide support to the healthcare services reeling under the impact of COVID-19.
According to Shantilal Muttha, the founder of Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS), the organisation has started 'Mission Zero' in collaboration with civic and health authorities in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. 'Mission Zero' is a rapid action plan to combat COVID-19. Under this Mission, mobile dispensary vans go around the cities to conduct a preliminary examination of patients with symptoms similar to COVID 19 like fever, cough, cold, bodyache, conjunctivitis, running nose and also provide them with medical supervision and medicines at their doorstep.
As of July 31, over 17 lakh people have been screened in the four states out of which 16.1 lakh were screened in Maharashtra, over 39,000 were screened in Karnataka, over 1.2 lakh in Tamil Nadu and more than 16,000 in Gujarat. Out of the total number of people screened so far, over 29,500 people were detected as suspected COVID-19 patients and were referred to government hospitals.
The organisation also introduced 'Smart Helmets' in the country that can help in expediting mass thermal screening. It procured four helmets from China and has donated two each to Pune and Mumbai civic authorities. A Smart helmet works as a portable thermal scanner and is equipped with two cameras, one camera records the video of a person and side camera which is a thermal camera records the body temperature of a person. It has the capacity to scan 200 people in one minute.
According to Sanjog S Kabre, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, 'Smart Helmets' are proving to be helpful in early detection of suspected COVID-19 cases. He said that over 30,000 people have been screened using the helmets and out of the total number of people screened, 200 were sent for swab testing and out of those 25 tested positive.
As the organisation continues to carry on its containment efforts, Mr. Muttha says that they are currently working on a plan to increase the number of mobile dispensaries and widen the outreach of 'Mission Zero' to other parts of the country as well. He said, 'Today we are going through a very critical phase. I hope that the BJS workers across the country will put their full strength and resources to help the country and humankind at this time to create a new benchmark for social-service.'
NDTV along with Mastercard is launching a multi-platform campaign “Cashless Bano India”, to create digital awareness and educate the masses about digital payment solutions for day to day transactions.
The campaign aims to take the message of a cash free India to the country, and will charter a blue print which can help all stakeholders to become a part of the digital revolution.
We aim to reach out to people and educate them on:
1) Digital and financial literacy
2) New generation digital payment solutions
3) Enabling merchants and consumers to understand and adopt secured and safe payment Solutions
4) Ease of usage at point of sales
In the next 3 to 4 years, India will technologically leap forward. Every person with a mobile will become a walking ATMAmitabh KantCEO, NITI Aayog- The banking industry is going to move away from the practice of a blended merchant rate, we will have a separate cost for credit and debitAri SarkerCo-President, Asia Pacific, Mastercard
- Security is an ongoing process. Nothing can be absolutely secure. We need to solve problems on an everyday basisSunil MehtaMD and CEO, Punjab National Bank
- There should be no transaction costs on merchants or consumers. This should be covered by government subsidiesPraveen KhandelwalGeneral Secretary, The Confederation of All India Traders
- At least for the next 5 years or so, cellphones would be the best medium to reach people throughDr Arvind VirmaniPresident, Forum for Strategic Initiatives and Former Chief Economic Advisor
