Kolkata Covid Challenge

About Calcutta rescue

Calcutta Rescue is an Indian charity providing health care and education to the people who are economically most disadvantaged and socially most disfavoured in Kolkata and West Bengal. The particular strength of CR has been to focus on the people who are helped by none and to “rescue” people from the consequences of ill-health, illiteracy and poverty. This includes providing good healthcare, quality education for children and development of skills which would ultimately lead them to earn employment opportunities and a stable income.

The Vehicle service and its need

Calcutta Rescue’s vehicles are an indispensible part of its operations. It travels across the city and its suburbs to bring critical patients to its clinics or to admit them in government hospitals. On an average hundreds of patients are ferried by our vehicles on a monthly basis. However operations have been a bit different ever since the pandemic struck. Footfall during COVID in clinics has been reduced by 75% per day (20 people come to TPC compared to 80 before). CR has deliberately done this and moved to phone consultation model - to protect its staff and patients, to avoid congestion and follow the social distancing norms. Only those who live nearby are coming to the clinic to pick up medicines and food, and that too – by appointment only. That means we have to deliver medicines to these 75% patients – around 1500 of them who live in 6 districts around Kolkata at their doorsteps. Our fuel expenses have increased (more than double) because of this doorstep delivery service. Our January to March 2020 average fuel expense which was around 35,000/- has been more than double the amount around 90,000/- during June 2020.

During the initial lockdown phase in Kolkata, when Calcutta Rescue had to operate with a skeletal staff in the ground level, the CEO himself drove the organisation vehicle for 120 kms through the deserted roads of West Bengal to ensure Anita Shasmal, a patient suffering from ITP or Immune Thrombocytopenia, a disorder which leads to excessive bruising and bleeding gets her much needed medicine even during lockdown.

Our staff also travelled as far as Pataspur in Purba Midnapur which is around 200 kms from Kolkata to ensure Kalipada Ghorui, a blood cancer patient gets his medicine on time even during the lockdown.

The vehicles ever since the lockdown have travelled thousands of kilometers to deliver life saving drugs to our patients who live across different parts of Bengal. Delivery of life-saving medicines will continue for some time. Our vehicles are around 26 years old and during these long journeys have had to face a number of breakdowns. Without a vehicle we cannot do it. We need two vehicles. This campaign is to raise money for 1 vehicle.

     Purpose that the vehicle serves:·        Delivery of medicines and food to hundreds of patients in6 districts around Kolkata. ·        Eases service delivery for the ultimate beneficiaries, so that they can reap in maximum benefits of the services being given to them by Calcutta Rescue·        Helps to bring in more beneficiaries from the slums through this service, so that drop out rate of patients are minimized

·        More patients can be brought into the formal health system, and we will successfully serve as a missing link with the government health system

      Need for a new vehicle (Bolero)

·        We have been rendering services using vehicles which are as old as 26 years and needs immediate replacement to stop breakdown of the services that are being rendered to the have-nots.

Our old vehicle

a new vehicle which the fund will have us purchase