(Photo Courtesy: helpnagalandbreathe@instagram)
Morung Express News
Kohima | May 28
As Nagaland battles the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic against an overwhelmed medical setup, a voluntary campaign called ‘Help Nagaland Breathe’ has been initiated to garner relief support towards the public health infrastructure in Nagaland to help fight the pandemic.
Officially launched on May 20, the fundraiser campaign is led by 30+ volunteers based in India, USA, Ireland, Singapore, UK and Spain.
The volunteers have further been assigned into different working groups: fundraising, supply chain management, procurement, finance and Communication Team, Help Nagaland Breathe, the campaign initially began with a few friends brainstorming together to ship a few medical supplies.
“Before we started the distribution, we began with a needs assessment. We called up district hospitals, spoke to frontline workers, medical doctors, government officials, administrators in rural and urban areas and we realised the needs were much higher. One shipment of medical supplies wasn’t going to be enough. We saw that the government, International Organisations, communities, churches, and individuals were doing a lot. So we came together to use our networks to do the little that we can,” states the Team.
The campaign hopes to raise Rs 7,000,000 for Nagaland which will go towards the procurement and distribution of medical supplies (Oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders, pulse oximeters, PPE kits) and humanitarian aid where food supplies and ration kits will be provided via verified NGOs. The medical supplies will be distributed through three channels- the Government, verified hospitals and verified on ground NGOs. The distribution of the medical supplies will be based on three key principles: Equitable distribution, Transparency and Impact.
While the campaign was launched a week ago, conversations with donors are still ongoing. “The response, by far, has been positive, encouraging and motivational. A lot of our donors have been kind and supremely generous in contributing towards, “Help Nagaland Breathe” project. But having said that, there is still so much more that the team requires in terms of support, sharing, contributing, in magnifying this movement; which with support of all may help in generating meaningful impact!” adds the Team.
At the time of filing this report, the campaign had already raised 10 percent (Rs 6,67,217) of its target. According to the Digital Communications Team, the first batch of medical supplies containing 1000 home kits, 50 oximeters and 50 thermometers will be arriving in three days.
“We are glad so many individual donors have been contributing to the fundraiser campaign. All details of our fundraiser is on our website and social media handles. People can track all items, the value, quantity, type on our website. The first phase is still ongoing. Through the support of our donors and aid agencies, we want to supply oxygen concentrators, cylinders, BiPAPS, home isolation kits, PPE Kits, and food supplies,” says the team.
To ensure transparency and accountability, all details on demand and deployment, progress, procurement and details of medical supplies, will be updated online. The assessment of impact is also expected to be undertaken on a regular basis.
