NEW DELHI: When an 11-year-old asked her
mother
if they could help
Covid-affected people
with medicines, there was no hint that this would turn into a crucial intervention to help a lot of people. The daughter-mother duo is not buying medicines to give to the infected people, only collecting medicines
left over
after
recovery
from Covid. In just
two weeks
, the two have been able to collect over 3,200 tablets from 38 people and pass them to an Agra gurudwara, a health camp for the underprivileged in Gurugram and to needy individuals in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi.
Saif Ali Khan Health Update
The initiative, called the Covid Medicine Recycle, has now received a boost with students of St Stephen’s College collaborating to create a database of donors and beneficiaries.
Supriya Malik, mother of Sahria Malik, told TOI, “My
daughter
helps me run the digital aspect of my skin care brand and is, therefore, allowed two hours every day on social media. She saw umpteen messages asking for medicines and asked me if we could do something. She had also seen her father’s entire family contracting Covid. I wondered how I could use our network to help Covid patients.”
Two weeks back Malik began picking up unneeded medicines from recovered Covid patients and employing the logistics of her company, Indulgeo Essentials, to ferry them to people who needed them. From Fabiflu to Medrol and Crocin to vitamin tablets, the duo has been given medicines across India. They have even received thermometers, oximeters and nebulisers
“In our first collection, eight people gave us 432 basic and critical pills. Then more people came forward and in two weeks we received over 3,200 tablets from 38 people. One person sent 70 Fabiflu tablets, 90 Montair tablets. A Mumbai person sent us 283 Vitamin C tablets,” said Malik.
Their first set of medicines were sent to a gurdwara in Agra that had been running oxygen langars. Over 900 medicines were also provided to Gurugram Nagrik Ekta Manch. “The Manch had got everything from volunteer doctors to oxygen but they needed medicines. So, we gave them what we had,” said Malik.
One of the beneficiaries, Jasleen Kaur, thanked donor Ankit Sareen on social media for the Fabiflu for her grandmother. “The medicine reached us when we were unable to get it at the pharmacy,” said Kaur.
The St Stephen’s students have added over 50 donors to the list. “We are also collecting details of organisations to which we can send the medicines for beneficiaries,” said Anushca Thomas, executive member of the social service league of St Stephen’s.