With people struggling to find hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and medicines during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, several individuals have stepped in to help. One such is the 33-year-old techie from Vijayapura, Zahoor Kazi.

To fill in the information gap for people looking for health facilities, has set up a 24X7 helpline to assist Covid-19 patients. The helpline guides the callers in finding beds, oxygen cylinders and medicines.

Kazi, started the Mercy Helpline Vijayapura (MHV) on May 14 in association with doctors, medical experts, and other activists. A software engineer, Kazi works at a private firm in Bengaluru.

Among the people who have joined him in this initiative are 10 doctors, settled abroad (the USA, the UK and the Middle East) and in Karnataka. All of them have agreed to provide free tele-consultation to the patients, especially for those in home isolation.

To man the phones and assist the callers and the needy, as many as six graduates have volunteered to work with the MHV.

The team’s helpline number is 7848025025.

Working round-the-clock, the MHV on an average, receives 30 calls each day from Vijayapura, Bagalkot and Belagavi.

MHV also collaborates with five non-governmental organisations that help people. The NGOs help by supporting people financially in paying hospital bills, supplying grocery kits, cremating unclaimed bodies of Covid victims and other assistance related to Covid and black fungus.

In an article in the New Indian Express, Kazi said: “Our main objective is to help the needy in such tough times. We are working in coordination with district officials. We are also creating awareness on Covid-19.”

The helpline team has helped at least 15 patients in getting oxygen beds and about 10 people in getting ventilators. Besides these, another 10 availed the free tele-consultation services.

Kazi disclosed that most of the callers were from the urban areas, even though MHV was keen to reach out to those living in rural areas. “We want to reach out to those in villages too as they have limited knowledge of the disease.”