Currently, the environment is highly hostile even for the people staying inside their houses. So Hatke Story has brought this ‘Tales of Corona Survivors’ series to spread positivity and awareness among the crowd. We will be featuring social workers, corona patients, doctors, and their families in this series. Only to tell you what is going on the ground.
To add to this series, we got connected to Sumit Aggarwal. He comes from Haryana and has been working as a social worker for the blood donation centers. His father’s life motivated Sumit to serve as a social worker. His entire family has been involved in the work, and they have been helping people for quite a long time. They also pay from their pocket and use their savings to meet people’s demands and expectations.
Currently, he is serving as a corona warrior and providing oxygen cylinders, cremating unclaimed dead bodies, arranging hospital beds, medicines, and ambulance facilities for covid patients.
Sumit Aggarwal – My Story
I’m Sumit Aggarwal. I hail from Hisar (Haryana). My father (Shri Rajender Aggarwal) was always active in social working, and he led the Polio Campaign and served in many other social sectors. His zeal and dedication inspired me to take social working forward, and I also decided to work hard to uplift oppressed and poor citizens. Earlier, I used to work with blood banks and other NGOs.
I began working as a covid warrior in the second wave when the oxygen crisis was on peak. This reality struck me when I saw a person struggling to breathe without oxygen. The doctor had removed his oxygen mask for a while. I could see that he was battling to inhale just like a fish pulled out of water. The mere sight of a person struggling to stay alive disturbed me a lot.
My mind went to the people dying due to the shortage of oxygen and the families trying to arrange or refill oxygen cylinders for their family members. I thought about the people who didn’t have money to buy a cylinder. How must they be dealing with the crisis? Thus, I decided to help by refilling oxygen cylinders.
I had ties with oxygen plant owners, so I got connected to them, and they agreed to refill the cylinders without hiking their price. I updated numbers on social media and WhatsApp. Within a bit of time, we were out of stock. People from all over the state and nearby states called us to get the cylinder. This need gave me a clear picture of the scenario that took place in April and May month. Trust me; the situation was so dire and hard to believe. I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t see it happening right in front of my eyes.
Private hospitals were looting people in the name of covid treatment, whereas the government hospitals were full of patients. They didn’t have space to admit new patients. Sadly, the government wasn’t doing anything to stop the loot and black marketing. Till now, they haven’t taken any strict action against black marketing. NGOs are taking more responsibilities than hired authorities.
Prices of oxygen cylinders were so excited that people wouldn’t believe our prices. Once I got a call from Gurgaon. The person needed a cylinder for his relative. He asked for the price, and I said it would be around 80 to 400 rupees. He was shocked after knowing the original price of oxygen. He asked me four times, ‘Are you sure you are charging 80 to 400 rupees? I’m getting it here for 25,000 rupees.’ To say I was shocked would be an understatement. At that moment, I pitied corona patients and their families.
The scenario was the same on cremation grounds. There was no space to burn or bury bodies in the ground. People weren’t ready to touch their family members. Last month, Praveen Kumar, President of Nagar Nigam, died due to corona. The man burnt 600 large dead bodies of corona patients. He couldn’t get a bed in the hospital, and his family searched hard but failed miserably. One thousand five hundred people attended his funeral in May lockdown. Such was the impact of his personality, and I can never forget these incidents in my whole life what people have lost and paid to fight corona.
I wish our government worked more to control the situation, but they were busy playing election politics. People’s lives didn’t matter to them. It teaches us that we should be careful before choosing our government. I hope they identify their mistakes and take enough initiatives to correct them.
In June, the situation is much more stable than in April and May. However, we haven’t won the battle yet, and we will not win it until all of us are fully vaccinated against coronavirus. So please get your vaccine and promote the use of the vaccine. Please don’t take it. Follow all the precautions. Covid is still lingering in the air. Be careful. Be safe.
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