Anirudh Deshmukh is a musician from Mumbai and when the second wave of Covid hit India and he saw the urgent tweets and posts from people searching for oxygen and hospital beds for loved ones he decided to do something about it. Using a combination of social media, WhatsApp and the meet up platform Clubhouse Anirudh began finding strangers hospital beds and oxygen. He quickly became inundated and along with other ordinary Indians he began working day and night to try and save lives. Anirudh found himself in the position of a medic or relief worker deciding who which lives to save. A difficult position even for someone highly trained to deal with these situations.
Dr Venkata Ratnadeep Suri explains how technology enabled people to form local microcosmic systems to allow lives to be saved and Aleks also hears how in desperations people started to think very creatively how to use apps and online social platforms online to save lives. Sohini Chattopadhyay returned to Kolkata at the beginning of the pandemic to be with her mum. When her childhood friend got sick in the second wave and was fighting Covid the doctors suggested plasma therapy. It was going to be too difficult to go through official channels so Sohini turned to Tinder to find a suitable match. Two people came forward.
Produced by Kate Bissell
Researched by Anna Miles
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