The initiative, which the Centre identified among best practices for Covid management, added 500 beds to provide immediate relief and buy time for many Covid patients with respiratory distress who could not immediately get hospital access
In April, when the second Covid wave was at its most fearsome surge, Elite Homz in Noida set up a five-bed Covid isolation ward for its residents at its community centre. Oxygen cylinders were difficult to find – people tried for days to get one and the desperation prompted gurdwaras to start ‘oxygen langars’ – but Elite Homz managed five. Two of those came from the condominium’s swimming pool and three from apartments of benevolent residents who had the cylinders at home for medical reasons.
Another society, Lotus Boulevard, had by then started an oxygen support centre with four cylinders. The condominium of 10,000 residents had reported more than 80 Covid cases at that time and the society’s WhatsApp groups convulsed with frantic appeals — for hospital beds, oxygen, ambulances, medicines, doctors and nurses. “We realised something had to be done quickly. With help from residents, we set up the emergency oxygen centre. We refilled two cylinders meant for our swimming pool and got two more from a local vendor. No other society here had such a facility at that time,” said Tej Prakash, president of the Lotus Boulevard Apartment Owners’ Association (AOA).
Another society, Lotus Boulevard, had by then started an oxygen support centre with four cylinders. The condominium of 10,000 residents had reported more than 80 Covid cases at that time and the society’s WhatsApp groups convulsed with frantic appeals — for hospital beds, oxygen, ambulances, medicines, doctors and nurses. “We realised something had to be done quickly. With help from residents, we set up the emergency oxygen centre. We refilled two cylinders meant for our swimming pool and got two more from a local vendor. No other society here had such a facility at that time,” said Tej Prakash, president of the Lotus Boulevard Apartment Owners’ Association (AOA).