The second wave of the pandemic has been more devastating for various communities across India as compared to the first. One of the worst affected are our weavers and artisans, who already belong to socially and economically backward communities. To provide them with some relief in terms of medical equipment and basic medicines to fight the virus, Yes!poho, a social impact platform aimed at improving the livelihoods of weavers and artisans, has started a medical drive a few weeks ago.
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Yes!poho has been raising funds on crowdsourcing platform Milaap to provide basic medical kits to 1000 families of these artisans. About 10,000 artisans are registered on the platform and they are trying to provide it to every family.
The basic medical kit comprises a thermometer, an oximeter, a strip of paracetamol and the total cost of each medical kit including shipping and taxes is Rs 1,200.
"Several states were going into lockdown and we had tried to figure out how we can work with our artisans and weavers to help them with the orders and logistics and while planning for that we realised there was a larger problem. The second wave has been much crueler than the first wave, we lost quite a few artisans and members of their families. We saw that they lack basic awareness about the virus. We conducted webinars in different languages to spread awareness, they were mostly infographic-based. While interacting with them we also realised they lack basic medical facilities due to poor infrastructure, poor medical health in remote villages. If someone doesn't have the basic thermometer and paracetamol at home, it would be a serious problem. That's when we raised funds to purchase medical kits," says Raghuram Kuchibhatla, Founder and CEO, Yes!poho.
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The team purchased these in bulk so they spoke to organisations and got the materials at a cheaper rate than usual. "We will continue doing this. Initially, we had thought of running it for just two weeks, but it is the need of the hour," he adds.
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Last year too, the platform had conducted a food drive during the first wave. Going forward, they wish to facilitate a remote mode of doctor consultation, maybe through phone calls for the families of the artisans.
"I am speaking to a few doctors in Hyderabad to facilitate this in the upcoming days. Yes!poho is mainly headquartered in Vishakapatnam, however, we have our regional office is in Hyderabad. So, it easier to contact doctors from there," he concludes.
Here's how you can help them out too: https://www.yespoho.com/
