DK District Branch of Indian Red Cross Society renders selfless service
Mangaluru: The Dakshina Kannada district branch of the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) has been rendering social service from the past three decades. Though initially its service was limited to procuring blood for the needy, it has extended its service to all sectors now. As the whole country is under lockdown now, IRCS has been engaged in helping the lockdown victims and also to those who are mitigating the spread of coronavirus.
Helping elderly people, providing essential services to physically challenged persons, organizing eye testing camps, blood donation camps, helping students to boost their self-confidence, creating awareness among the youth about the need of involving in social services among others are its common services. But, now the members of IRCS is busy in distributing grocery kits, soaps and sanitizers to poor and daily wagers.
In association with the labor department and Raitha Sangha, it has disbursed over 20,000 masks, 3,500 soaps, and 3,000 sanitizers to journalists, police departments, migrant laborers, Asha workers, security guards, and people from rural areas. As arranging blood is a tough task during this corona time, it has been insisting the youth donate blood. Meanwhile, it collects blood from the donors only after gathering information about their travel history. Besides that, the Red Cross is providing 12 to 15 units of blood every day to Lady Goschen Hospital.
IRCS has set up a quarantine center of 100 beds at NITK, Surathkal, wherein a total of 70 people have been quarantined. It has also set up a relief camp for the migrant laborers.
It has set up a Jan Aushadhi Kendra at Padavinangadi, wherein medicines are available to the public at the discount rate of 80%. With the help of NMPT, a clinic ” NMPT Red Cross Free Clinic ” has been set up near Panambur where laborers of the unorganized sector can obtain medicines for free.
As the involvement of youth in social services is very much needed, district branch IRCS has set up Youth Red Cross in colleges that comes under Mangalore University. It works on the lines of NSS and NCC. It has over 250 members in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu districts and Dr. Ganapathi Gowda is working as a nodal officer.
Help Desk at Wenlock Hospital
IRCS has set up a help desk at the premises of district Wenlock Hospital recently, in order to help the patients who come from different districts. A total of 20 members who are trained under the Red Cross are working on this help desk. Though elderly members also working in this help desk, their service has not been taken now after Wenlock Hospital turned into COVID Hospital now.
It can be recalled that the district branch of IRCS has emerged as the best branch in the entire state for its tremendous social service.
Masks to SSLC students
Dakshina Kannada district branch IRCS president CA Shantharam Shetty when contacted told Newskarnataka.com that it has already rendered its selfless service towards lockdown victims, health workers, and police departments.
“Though the government would relax the lockdown in the coming days, our effort on creating awareness on maintaining social services, wearing masks among others would continue. As the government would conduct an SSLC examination in next month, we are planning to disburse two reusable masks to all SSLC students who write exams. We are now consulting the BEO’s of both North and South in this regard,” he said.
IRCS’s district Disaster Management Committee president and State unit Environment Committee Director Yathish Baikampady told Newskarnataka.com that over 2,500 food kits worth Rs 10 lakh disbursed to migrant labourers so far. ” It is the responsibility of Mangaloreans to well treat and respect the migrant labourers as their contribution towards the development of district is much more,” he added.
