EEMA Ruchin Kohli
Even as Delhi's situation started to get worse in the wake of the second Covid19 wave, a slew of professionals from the event industry decided to roll up their sleeves to aid those in need. Ruchin Kohli, Director, Occasion Xperts and Joint Secretary - North India, Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA), was among them. Along with a few friends from the industry, a movement was birthed. They were soon joined by their teams and more professionals from the event Industry.
They divided themselves into teams based on needs like oxygen cylinder availability and supply, doctor consultations, medicines, hospital beds availability, food and plasma. Each group was headed by a couple of senior industry professionals supported by teams. The intent was to work round the clock to ensure they help with on-ground support, verified contact numbers and the like.
Whether it was to help people find hospital beds through night and day or ambulances late at night, the mandate was to do whatever they could to save lives. While helping out across the spectrum, Kohli’s primary involvement was with beds and ambulances.
“I was fully involved mainly in arranging beds for patients and ambulances even before the availability of beds became a nightmare in the city. Vijay Arora and I formed a team of our employees, fellow industry colleagues to put together an efficient team. This team used to maintain a database, call hospitals and we used our best sources possible to get beds for patients. Later, we were joined by some great human beings from the event industry who really helped us grow this task force further and help more people,” said Kohli.
Among several initiatives that were being driven at the peak of the second wave was a portal, where one could help people donate their unused medicines. Another that is up and running is Ikshana, a critical care centre for Covid19 patients.
“This was not easy. We did brainstorming with some highly reputed doctors like Dr. Tamorish Kole (President – Asian Society of Emergency Medicine) amongst others who were ready to work extra hours as voluntary support to this project. It has been named Ikshana, which is not for profit initiative, providing beds and facilities for mild symptomatic patients to start with. Later the plan is to extend to critical care units in cities which need these the most. This initiative has also been supported by British Association of Physicians of India. Our first facility is already running on Sector 83 Gurgaon.”
The main command centre at the premises will act as a common centre for doctors across the globe to do virtual rounds with patients. This will allow control and give rigorous attention to each patient, reasons Kohli.
On the helpline(s) that have proved to be a lifeline for many, he notes that over 10,000 calls were received with close to 1,000 reaching out for beds, ambulances and cremation grounds in a period of 12 to 16 days.
The challenges today are very different from addressing the distress calls during the peak of the second wave, when finding someone a hospital bed in Delhi was near impossible. Having surmounted those challenges, the team’s current focus areas include raising funds for various relief measures it has taken upon itself to execute.
“The event industry is definitely struggling; many of us haven’t done any billing for the last 14 months. But when it comes to saving lives and helping people, we are always a step ahead. We are event managers and know disaster management very well. That’s what we also do as a part of events for our clients and can take loads of stress physically and mentally. This is what worked for us and our self motivation,” surmised Kohli.
Challenges today are different from addressing distress calls during the peak of the second wave; focus areas include raising funds for relief initiatives the volunteer team has taken up.