Hyderabad: Ola Foundation, the philanthropic arm of ridesharing company Ola, on Wednesday announced that it will provide free and easy access to oxygen concentrators for home isolation patients during the ongoing wave of COVID-19 virus.
The Ola initiative received the Telangana government’s support on the occasion of Telangana Formation Day, in the presence of state Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce and IT, Jayesh Ranjan.
The whole experience is set up to be seamless through the Ola app and is completely free, including the doorstep delivery and pick up, said a press release. An initial lot 500 concentrators have been made available and this will be scaled up as per need, with about 10,000 concentrators available across the country.
Under this initiative, caregivers and home-isolation patients can now place requests for oxygen concentrators through the Ola app itself by providing a few basic details.
After submitting the necessary details, Ola will arrange for free home-delivery of the oxygen concentrator by specially trained personnel through Ola cabs. Ola will arrange for the oxygen concentrator to be picked up and thereafter to be sterilised and ready for use by the next patient.
Jayesh Ranjan said, “Oxygen concentrators have been found to be very effective for both patients who are suffering from mild to moderate symptoms, and also for patients who have come back to their homes after a spell of hospitalisation as a part of their post-COVID recovery.”
However, the entire process of purchasing a concentrator and owning one is a very cumbersome process, and typically individuals find it very difficult to access one, “What Ola, therefore, is doing is something very valuable. I do hope that needy people in Hyderabad make use of this facility and get aided in their quick recovery,”he adds.
Officials from the government of Telangana emphasized on the idea of making oxygen concentrators reachable to everyone in less than 3-4 hours of time. Five hubs have been created by Ola for storing and maintenance operations like sterilization and deployment would happen based once basic documents are uploaded by those needing the service on the Ola app.
