Age is no deterrent for doing social work and helping others. This has been proved by Rameshwar Prasad, an 81 year-old retired mechanical engineer of ACC Sindri who has helped shape the career of several hundreds of students from economically weaker sections by funding their expenses in medical and engineering colleges.
Prasad is now helping the rural populace of the hinterland of Tundi by providing free medicines and arranging for consultations for the Covid and asymptomatic Covid patients.
A resident of Dhanbad, Prasad began the drive to help the villagers of Tundi from May 11 under the banner of Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra, and constituted a team of private doctors led by renowned physician Dr G. Chatterjee.
Oxymeters and thermal guns to measure oxygen level and temperature are also distributed by Prasad’s team.
Talking to The Telegraph Online, Prasad said ,“Though we have carried out help to over 100 villagers of over a dozen villages of Tundi block but gradually we will be extending our work to villages of Topchanchi block also.”
“The volunteers of Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra, are the men on ground creating awareness to rural populace convincing them to share their medical complications with us and helping them to take medical consultation from doctors or our team on phone or Whatsapp offering their smartphones to them for consultation on whatsapp etc,” said Prasad.
Prasad has provided smart phones to the volunteers for arranging the medical online consultation with the doctors.
“Occasional training of the volunteers is also being organised to provide medicines as prescribed by team of doctors and also gauging the situation when hospitalisation is required for patients etc,” said Prasad and added that a similar training for one to two hours is scheduled at Ramkrishna Mission temple complex at Bank More on May 21.
None of the villagers who have been provided consultation and medicines required hospitalisation as awareness played the key role.
“Some Indians settled in foreign countries are also helping us in our mission to make the rural populace aware of Covid related facts,” said Prasad.
In November last year, Prasad set up a library and computer training centre at Kohair village of Tundi block with support of Vikram Kaul, a US based technocrat friend of Satyendra Dubey, an engineer of National Highway Authority of India who sacrificed his life in 2003 for the sake of honesty, exposing the nexus of politicians and bureaucrats in corruption.