An ICU ward on the eighth floor of SevenHills Hospital at Marol is a heroic tale of saving over 5,000 lives during the second wave of Covid-19. In recognition, the BMC has named the ward after Navneet Foundation of the Navneet Publication fame and Runanubandh Trust, the silent do-gooders from the Kutchi Oswal Jain community that helped make this happen.
The community invested undisclosed sums of money to upgrade infrastructure and provided timely help, medicines like Remdesivir and fed the entire medical staff, patients and their kin every day. Gaurav Galiya of Runanubandh Trust said that it all started with his father Vasant Galiya, 72, associated with Seven Hills hospital for 15 years through his social work. “My father learnt about motorised bed requirements, medicines and ventilators. Rajesh Bhayani of Apex Drughouse helped with medicines,” said Gaurav Galiya, adding that 1,000 doses of Remdesivir were arranged by the Navneet Foundation. Twelve ventilators costing RS 15 lakh each were donated to the paediatric ward.
Courtesy the two trusts, 5,000 patients were treated for free, 750 were treated for free in the ICU, 10,000 PPE kits were provided, and more than 40,000 N-95 masks were distributed. Fifty ICU beds worth Rs 50 lakh were also donated along with 10 Italian-made ventilators and four HFNC machines from New Zealand. The donation also included 25 LED television sets and 500 sets of bedsheets, blankets, cushion covers and pillows.
Sunil Gala, the managing director of Navneet Education Ltd told FPJ, “There are many people who couldn’t afford private hospitals for coronavirus treatment. For them, it was a challenge to get beds and good treatment in civic-run hospitals. We identified SevenHills Hospital to offer support and our recommendations.” He said a BMC-run hospital has limitations and for every purchase approvals are needed, which is time-consuming. “So we decided to focus on consumables, equipment, beds and ventilators,” he said.
Gala said as it’s “a good hospital with good doctors”, they wanted to fulfil all their needs. “We helped patients get admission and give status of treatment to relatives. The BMC was kind enough to name a ward after us,” he said, adding that the service was extended from the start of the pandemic but beds weren’t available during the second wave.
Sena corporator and BMC health committee chairperson Rajul Patel said the Runanubandh Trust and Navneet Foundation funded all the facilities in the hospital during the two waves. “I have been assured that they will help not just SevenHills but other civic-run hospitals, too, if they face shortages,” said Patel.
