COVID-19: Hyderabad NGO uses technology to help rural, tribal areas

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], June 17 (ANI): Keeping in view the limited access of medical facilities in the rural and tribal parts of the society amid the COVID pandemic, a Hyderabad based non-profit organization (NGO) has combined both the fields of service and technology together to extend their help to those from inaccessible areas of the state.
While there are several NGOs and individuals who have stepped forward to do their part in the pandemic, most have limited themselves to the cities and urban establishments. However, the Social Data Initiatives Forum (SDIF) of Hyderabad helped those from rural and tribal places of Telangana.
Speaking about the initiative, Mohammad Azam Khan, the Founder and Director of SDIF said that since the inception of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the organisation had been working at several hospitals and couldn't help but notice that many people admitted in Hyderabad were from nearby rural areas.
"Looking at the condition of people from rural areas that came to Hyderabad in search of proper medical treatment but were unable to find a bed or Oxygen while their health deteriorated, we decided that medical assistance like oxygen should be provided to them at their place instead of them having to look for it in the cities," he said.
Azam further mentioned that to achieve this, the NGO publicised their contact and helpline numbers and was able to set up Oxygen banks at several district headquarters and Government hospitals from where those who were in need could collect oxygen free of cost.
"To further speed up the supply of oxygen we requested the people to place a request of their requirement through the organisation's website so that we can deliver oxygen to their doorstep," he said.
SDIF has recently started collaborating with several other NGOs of other states and at the district, levels to ensure support to the people from the rural backdrop.
Khalid Saifullah, a member of SDIF he mentioned that the organisation developed a digital program that interacts with the Application Programming Interface (API) of Twitter, which works on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to identify tweets that have words like 'Need Help, Oxygen'.
"Those people are contacted to cross-check the requirement and then we help them in receiving Oxygen from the nearest available source", he added.
Khalid said, "During the peak days of the pandemic, there were about 150 to 200 requests; we ensured all requests were fulfilled." (ANI)