Ongole: Good Samaritans step in to help patients, needy

Ongole: Hundreds of people remain stranded on roads during the lockdown. Fortunately, everyone is provided with food thanks to Good Samaritans. Good-hearted persons are coming forward to lend a helping hand in one or other form.

The lockdown in the wake of outbreak of coronavirus has made life miserable for the people already in suffering from one or other disease. Patients suffering from chronic kidney disease cannot drink water more than half a litre to one litre as they required dialysis twice in a week. The thalassemia patients need to undergo blood transfusion once in every few days to live. To receive the dialysis or blood transfusion, the patients need to travel in auto-rickshaws or car to hospitals as they cannot able to travel on two-wheelers on their way back to home. Since the imposition of lockdown, the patients are forced to shell out thousands of rupees for transportation.

Witnessing the struggle of these poor patients, a few persons came forward to help. Tholusuri Venkat Yadav, Kolluri Ravikiran Sarma, Polineni Tirupataiah, Vadde Srinivas of Pamur mandal in Prakasam district came forward to offer free transport twice in a week to the patients to enable them to go to hospital in Kandukur. Vadde Srinivas and others already tried to bring the issue of the patients to the notice of government and MLAs and MP, no action has yet been taken. Patients Melangi Sudarsan, Gunji Srinivasulu, Subbarayudu, and Sivaramulu said that the Krishna District Collector has already ordered 15 private hospitals to provide free dialysis to the patients so that they go to their nearby hospital and need not spend more money on transport. They demanded the government that such facilities be provided to them also and thanked the people for providing free transport.

In Botlaguduru village, the group of tailors Nalabothula Subbalakshmi, Talupula Sireesha, Talupula Padma came forward to stitch facemasks for the people. They prepared hundreds of masks for distribution in the panchayat and to the volunteers in the villages. The women said though they cannot contribute money to the people, they are doing their bit of service by using their skills.

In Ongole, the Pastor couple Peter and Gracy are preparing food for the homeless people, who are spending time on footpaths. As a number of people are supplying commodities and vegetables to families in various areas and press personnel, a number of the beneficiaries are handing over the items to the pastor couple. They cook a simple meal and distribute it to the needy. Peter said that they are doing their bit in the turbulent times as they cannot spend thousands of money from their pocket. He said that he is just following the words of Jesus Christ and loving the fellow human being.