Sikh Group Has Website Blocked in India, Uses WhatsApp to Donate Oxygen Amid COVID Spike
On 5/6/21 at 5:01 PM EDT
As the COVID-19 crisis continues to ravage the health care system in India, the government has welcomed oxygen supplies from several countries including the U.S., Britain and Germany as well as money from people of Indian descent around the world.
However, it seems India has turned away help from Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a U.S.-based Sikh separatist group. According to the Associated Press, the group said the Indian government blocked its COVID-19 relief website, oxygenfund.org. The site aimed to connect Indians who can t afford the high prices of oxygen with Sikhs in the U.S., Canada and other countries willing to donate money.
May 6, 2021
As India is ravaged by a crippling Covid-19 wave, members of the Indian diaspora are struggling to find ways to help. One group among them is especially distressed: doctors.
Physicians are one of India’s most prized exports, especially in the US where they make up 20% of all foreign-trained doctors. Together, Indians and Indian-American doctors are the most represented non-white group in the medical profession.
With the situation in their home country or ancestral land continuing to worsen, Indian doctors in the US find themselves in the situation where they have the skills to help, and yet are unable to do so. ”It upsets me a lot because I think ‘I trained to be a doctor and I am away right now’,” says Ramya Pinnamaneni, a doctor from New Delhi, India, who is a researcher at Harvard School of Public Health.
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A health worker takes a nasal swab sample of a woman to test for COVID-19 in Hyderabad, India, Monday, May 3, 2021. COVID-19 infections and deaths are mounting with alarming speed in India with no end in sight to the crisis. People are dying because of shortages of bottled oxygen and hospital beds or because they couldnât get a COVID-19 test.
Mahesh Kumar A - stringer, AP
FILE - In this May 3, 2021, file photo, a man walks carrying a refilled cylinder as family members of COVID-19 patients wait in queue to refill their oxygen cylinders at Mayapuri area in New Delhi, India. COVID-19 infections and deaths are mounting with alarming speed in India with no end in sight to the crisis. People are dying because of shortages of bottled oxygen and hospital beds or because they couldnât get a COVID-19 test.
Indian-American bodies mobilise resources for Covid relief in India
Washington– Several Indian-American organisations have mobilised resources and raised millions for Covid-19 relief in India, which is currently battling a deadly second wave of the pandemic, according to a media report.
On Monday, Indiaspora, a non-profit community of global Indian diaspora leaders, announced the launch of the ‘ChaloGive for India’ campaign which began with an initial $1 million raised through their private donor network of members, reports American Bazaar.
In a tweet on Monday, the community said: “Thank you for the outpouring of support toward Covid-19 relief efforts in India. We are launching ChaloGive to continue the momentum.