How this close-knit Delhi village is keeping deaths at bay

NEW DELHI: With Delhi’s health care facilities overwhelmed by the resurgent Covid-19 coronavirus, the small village of Nangal Thakran located in northwest Delhi’s Bawana is showing the way forward.
The young volunteers led by a doctor are not only helping patients to receive the right medical counselling and medication, but also developing common resources such as oxygen cylinders and free ambulance service for the use of the village.

Myths and ignorance are also being busted through awareness drives.
Farmer Ravindra Thakran, a core committee member of the project and a former sports teacher, said that while the group was engaged in social causes for two years, it decided to bolster the anti-Covid arrangements in the village seeing how the official system appeared unable to manage the new wave of infections.
“In April, we created this WhatsApp group with volunteers from each lane and people from nearby villages,” said Ravindra. “Dr Vikas Thakran, a cardiologist and originally a resident of the village, guides us.”
From creating awareness about the disease to reporting individuals exhibiting Covid symptoms, the platform is a crucial cog in coordinating the project.
“In the beginning, being infected meant remaining secretive. But now, aware that treatment is possible and help is accessible, people come forward on their own to report symptoms,” disclosed Ravindra.
A pool of 8-9 oxygen cylinders — many of them donated by the villagers — and 100 oximeters are now available alongside a free ambulance to take critical patients to hospital.
Dr Vikas Thakran said that he started the initiative when he found a patient who had approached had alarmingly low oxygen levels. “We started by creating the WhatsApp group. It is essentially a triage at the village level. We monitor the markers, medical treatment based on symptoms and determine early enough whether a patient requires hospitalisation,” explained the cardiologist.
There are 50 active cases in the village with a population of 6,000.
A tricycle mounted with a loudspeaker system goes around spreading awareness. Pamphlets in simple language instruct the residents on the steps to follow each day after the onset of symptoms.
“These are instructions from AIIMS that have been simplified,” said Vikas. Villagers and people who have migrated out to other countries have also been donating to keep the collective effort going.
Besides his duties in two hospitals, Vikas spends a large part of his day on consultations with village patients and studying their medical reports.
“We don’t want to leave the infection unattended to the point the patient requires oxygen support,” said the doctor. “The emphasis is on early treatment based on markers and symptoms.”
His efforts are helped by the fact that the close-knit village community is like a family where everyone is prepared to help the other.
The volunteers have specific talents. A plumber and an AC repair mechanic have the skill to help with oxygen cylinders.
Two male nurses, Akash Verma and Sandeep Thakran, both village residents, help the people isolated at home after they get over their 10-12-hour shifts in hospital.
Members like Ravindra and Hoshiar Singh help with logistics. Singh, a municipal corporation sanitary inspector, said, “We help procure medicines, provide daily essentials and get the oxygen cylinders refilled.
Three volunteers contracted the infection, but others kept working and the situation has improved. There have been just two deaths in the village.”
And then, as Ravi Jain pointed out, there is also some innovation.
“Some of the donated empty cylinders were meant for industrial use and we did not have flow meters,” narrated Jain.
“So, we took a glucose sipper from a local akhada and modified it into a gas-flow control device.”
Paras Tyagi, who runs an NGO on rural issues, said Nangal Thakran is a model for others.
“Both the central and state governments are engaged in a blame game, but Nangal Thakran village has shown what the villages forming the core of India are capable of under the guidance of professionals,” Tyagi pointed out.