At time when hospitals are flooded with COVID-19 patients and sights of relatives waiting outside have become all too familiar, a corporator in Maharashtra's Latur city is providing free meals and lodging to kin of infected persons, who have travelled from remote areas for treatment.
Omprakash Padile, a Congress corporator from the Latur Municipal Corporation, has opened the doors of his wedding and banquet hall to house relatives of COVID-19 patients, who have travelled to the city after failing to get treatment in tehsil hospitals.
Padile has made arrangements for kin of patients in compliance with the COVID-19 norms and is providing nourishing meals for free since the last one week.
As the deadly infection continues to spread in the rural areas of Marathwada, at least 958 people tested positive and 30 died of the infection on Friday. With this, the tally of infections in Latur district has risen to 71,080, while the toll stood at 1,276.
Explaining the reason for his decision to provide these services, Padile said, "When I underwent treatment in Latur and then in Pune for 10 days, I witnessed the plight of relatives, who had to wait outside hospitals for long hours." Padile said he decided to take the first step and hoped that people will follow his lead and come forward to help.
Once patients get hospitalised in the city, finding food and accommodation becomes a major problem for relatives, as hotels, restaurants, eateries and lodges are shut in light of the curbs. On seeing this, Padile converted his well-equipped wedding hall into a rest house and started providing breakfast, tea and meals for free. "My father is undergoing treatment at a hospital near the wedding venue. The night after he was admitted to the hospital, I stayed in a place from where I had to flee, and I found help at the wedding hall," said Jayant Kulkarni, a farmer from Chakur.
At least 100 have been housed and fed at Padile's wedding hall, it was stated. In similar gesture, a group of youngsters have been providing meals to relatives of COVID-19 patients admitted in 10 hospitals every day.
As many as 500 people are being fed by the team of youngsters, who visit 10 designated COVID-19 hospitals in the city.
