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ISWAN launches vaccination drive for Indian seafarers
In response to the second wave of COVID-19 in India, the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) has launched a ‘Vaccination Drive for Indian Seafarers’ in collaboration with Narayana Health and the Medica Group of Hospitals.
Over the last few weeks, ISWAN’s international helpline SeafarerHelp has received a significant number of calls from Indian seafarers who have shared the various challenges they and their families are facing in India due to the disastrous impact of the second wave of COVID-19. Indian seafarers have reported being unable to join vessels as they could not get vaccinated, which has resulted in increased hardship for the seafarers and their families and worries that they may lose their jobs.
Few organisations have been able to obtain vaccines from pharmaceutical companies in recent months, outside national governments and supranational institutions.
Earlier this year, the International Chamber of Shipping was looking to buy up to one million vaccine jabs via the Covax programme, co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO). But it failed to make inroads.
Chirag Bahri, ISWAN’s director of regions (India), said his organisation pulled off the trick by working with the private hospitals that procured vaccines directly from local manufacturers in India.
“It is our duty to keep exploring possibilities in ways we can try to assist our seafarers and their families undergoing tremendous hardships due to the Covid-19 situation in the country, which is unimaginable,” he said.
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Published 7 May 2021
The International Seafarers’ Welfare & Assistance Network has, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, decided to raise $1m for seafarers in India and other countries.
ISWAN on its website said, “Leading seafarer welfare charities and shipping industry players have launched an emergency relief fund in order to support seafarers and their families devastated by the rampant COVID-19 pandemic in India and other countries.”
“Seafarers have been the invisible victims of COVID-19, with hundreds of thousands marooned on vessels for months beyond agreed contracts, in some cases.
“Despite suggestions that the crew change crisis was near its end, the escalation of COVID-19 cases in India to more than 400,000 per day has prompted some major ports to prohibit ship crew changes for seafarers with recent travel history to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Seafarers International Relief Fund launches fund to help India’s seafarers
As the COVID-19 crisis in India intensifies, seafarers and their families need help from the industry. The Seafarers International Relief Fund (SIRF) is establishing a fund to respond to the increasing and desperate needs of seafarers resulting from the pandemic.
The pandemic continues to spread across India and SIRF has recognised that practical and emotional welfare support will be needed in many guises for Indian seafarers and their families. SIRF has been in contact with its teams on the ground in the country and through surveys with key stakeholders to get an understanding of the needs and the situation.