Minutes of the Meeting of Rotary’s India Covid Task Force held on 28 April 2021
Present: PRID Ashok Mahajan (Chairman), Raja Saboo (PRIP), Vice Chairmen Deepak Kapur & Ranjan Dhingra and 34 committee members and DGs
Meeting started at 12 noon. Chairman Ashok Mahajan welcomed all and requested for a minute of silence in the memory of Rotarians whom we have lost recently to Covid.
Speedy recovery of Rotarians affected by Covid including RIPE Shekhar Mehta and PDG J.B Kamdar.
In his opening remarks, Chairman Ashok Mahajan spoke of the recent work of the Covid Task Force in Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan , Haryana ,West Bengal etc .
He said that over 250,000 free Covid vaccinations have been completed by Rotary in India.
Rotary’s MOU in Haryana facilitated by PDG T.K Ruby and mobile vaccination units in the State were mentioned.
MOU of Rotary Club of Madras with the Government of Tamil Nadu was highlighted.
Chairman appreciated that Rotary Club of Madras handed over to the Government of Tamil Nadu two refrigerated vehicles costing over Rs 1 Crore ( about 150,000US$) which can carry 4.4 million Vaccines.
A 100 bedded hospital has been set-up by Rotary Club of Ujjain, District 3040.
The Oxygen plant set up overnight in Delhi was appreciated. This was made possible by the leadership of DG Sanjeev Mehra.
Chairman also spoke about the offer of North American Rotarians to transfer funds for oxygen concentrators.
PRID Panduranga Shetty has informed the Chairman that oxygen generators worth US $ 1 million had been offered by One of his associates in the USA. With a condition that freight and clearing charges will be taken by Rotary. Task Force members urged the Chairman to take the offer and said that required funds can be mobilized. Vinod Bhatia suggested that recipient districts can be requested to raise funds for freight.
Rotary International Past President Raja Saboo inspired all about the importance of vaccination. If only we had vaccines earlier, we would not have lost leaders like PRID Yash Pal Das and PRIP Luis Giay. Now that the vaccines are available, we should go all out and save people. Mobile vaccination unit is a good idea.
Rotary can and must create awareness about Covid protocols. He saluted the good work done by Rotarians all over the country and encouraged Covid Task Force to go ahead.
Chairman Ashok Mahajan informed that PRIP Kalyan Banerjee could not participate due to personal reasons.
Zonal Coordinator Sunil K Zachariah presented details of the work done in Kerala. 62,000 free vaccinations have been done through 57 Centres/camps. Currently there is a vaccine scarcity. Rotary in Kerala has formulated a 12 point action plan for May and the details were shared. He assured that by 31May Kerala state will have a minimum of 100 Centres /camps and over 100,000 individuals will receive vaccines through Rotary.
Zonal Coordinator T.K Ruby presented details of the MOU with the Government of Haryana. Rotary has received approval to hold vaccination camps in all districts of the State. Ruby thanked Dr.Rita Kalra for helping in the partnership with the Government of Haryana. From 16 April two mobile vaccination units have started operation. More such mobile units have been planned.
Zonal Coordinator Mukul Sinha spoke about alliance with the Government of West Bengal. He assured that the Rotarians of West Bengal will do their best and that several vaccination camps are in the pipeline. Rotary Car Rally attracted good media attention and created awareness. End Covid Now Tee shirts made a good impact.
Vice Chairman Deepak Kapur was emotional when he referred to the alarming situation in Delhi. Patients are dying due to the scarcity of medical oxygen. He spoke about the efforts of DG Sanjeev Mehra who has overnight set up an oxygen generation plant in a hospital.
DG Sanjeev Mehra spoke about the anguish of oxygen shortage. Rotary District 3011 has installed one Rotary oxygen generator plant and is now in the process of installing another two. 10 such oxygen generation plants have been committed by Rotary in D3011 at an estimated cost of Rs.2 crores.
It was decided to use Rotary Club of Chandigarh’s FCRA account for receiving funds from abroad for settling up the Oxygen plant.
Rotary Club of Chandigarh will form a partnership with District 3011 for implementing the project in full compliance of the FCRA rules.
Vice Chairman Ranjan Dhingra proposed vote of thanks
Chairman adjourned the meeting at 1.15 pm, after announcing that the next meeting of the Task Force will be held in June.