THE ONE BILLION MILESTONE
On 19th Oct.2021, the Hon. Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare , Dr.Bharti Pawar officiated as Chief Guest at the Rotary Heroes Awards function organised by RI Dist.3141 at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai. Speaking at the event, the Hon. Minister applauded the work executed in the health care sector by Rotary, emphasizing that under the anti-coronavirus campaign, till now about 100 crore people have been vaccinated across the country, out of which the credit for over 30 lakh vaccinations goes to Rotary alone and the massive feat was possible for us only with its vital support.
While I had the privilege of receiving the Rotary Heroes Award at the hands of the Hon. Minister, the honour truly goes to Rotary, every Rotary Club and every Rotarian who stepped up during the pandemic and rose to the challenge of fighting Covid. I salute every Rotarian for the whole hearted support in our fight against Covid Pandemic and help the Government in its endeavor to get rid of Corona virus. The sincerity, commitment, dedication and generosity exhibited by Rotarians towards this cause is much appreciable.
During the last 18 months, Rotarians have demonstrated their capacity to assist their community in every conceivable manner. They have organised free vaccinations for lakhs of Indians, collaborated with local governments to build and augment medical facilities, provided logistical support for transport of vaccines and provided Oxygen concentrators for hospitals all over the country. In Erode, Tamil Nadu, Rotary clubs built an entire Covid Hospital in record time.
India has crossed the milestone of 1 billion doses of the Covid vaccine. Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally witnessed the administration of the 1 billionth dose by Nurse S.Christine in New Delhi. For a nation of almost 1.4 billion people, ravaged by poverty and systemic deficiencies, it is a colossal achievement, by any standard.
In his op-ed piece ( 5 steps to 1 billion doses) in India’s leading daily newspaper, The Times of Inda, Bill Gates writes:
“Over and over again, I have been impressed by India’s ability to address extremely difficult health challenges at the scale of a sub-continent of almost 1.4 billion people. Now, India has achieved another milestone.”
He concludes with the words: “India makes me hopeful because it shows how countries can, with strong leadership and consistent investments in health systems and R&D, protect the health of their people. There is no way to take back the suffering of the past 18 months, but we can make sure the next 18 months are much, much different.”
Bill and Melinda Gates are committed partners of Rotary and we are privileged to receive their consistent support. In turn, it is our duty to ensure that their faith in Rotary endures.
When history asks, “Where were you when the Covid pandemic struck?”, Rotary can rightfully say,” We were there in the thick of the crisis, we made a difference.”
As always, I am truly proud to be a Rotarian.
Ashok Mahajan Chairman, Rotary India’s Covid Task Force Member, T R F Covid Task Force
