An NGO has decided to keep oxygen concentrators in various locations across rural West Bengal so that people requiring oxygen support could use them.
The Liver Foundation handed 250 oxygen concentrators to rural health workers of 13 districts including Purulia, Birbhum, South and North 24-Parganas, Bankura, Murshidabad and Paschim Medinipur, at a programme here on Wednesday.
The foundation, which has several doctors as members, has divided each district of the state into five or six circles and kept concentrators in each of the circles.
Rural health workers in the circles will be responsible for handing the concentrators to those requiring them. The concentrators, as well as cannulas, will be given to people in need for free.
“The concentrators will be kept spread across rural areas of Bengal,” said Abhijit Chowdhury, a doctor and an adviser of the foundation.
The thought to keep the concentrators spread across rural areas occurred after witnessing the plight of families looking for oxygen during the second wave of Covid in 2021.
“We have witnessed how helpless people were when there was scarcity of oxygen. The Liver Foundation received many concentrators during that time. We are now distributing the concentrators across the state so that people in all places have access to them,” said Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, secretary of the foundation.
Over time, the phone numbers of the rural health workers will reach people through word of mouth, said Mukherjee. The foundation may also have a dedicated phone number for those seeking an oxygen concentrator, he added.
“The foundation has also helped form a consortium of rural health workers who play a key role in preventive healthcare and health promotion,” Mukherjee said.
The foundation has more than 200 concentrators still lying with it. These will be distributed soon among healthcare workers in districts.
