Meet Shahnawaz Shaikh,Who Sold His 22 Lakh SUV To Help Covid Patients

Just ignorance and carelessness dwara ivala Covid situation intha worse ga tayyaru aindi. Rojuki record staayi lo cases and thelikundane disappear aipothunna pranalu. Andaru corona meedha chetulu yettesina kontha mandi matram pranalu lekka cheyyakunda mundhuki vachi help chestunnaru. Ivala meeru chudaboyedi kuda alanti oka vyakthi kathane…

Mumbai-resident Shahnawaz Shaikh sold his ₹22-lakh SUV to buy and distribute oxygen cylinders for free. So far, he has handed them out to over 250 families suffering with coronavirus.

He bought a brand-new Ford Endeavour back in 2011, he spent additional money to get a special number plate – 007, as well as a customised music system.

But on May 28 last year, the sister of his business partner – who was six months pregnant – died of Covid-19 in an autorickshaw, outside a hospital, after being turned away from five hospitals.

Shahnawaz Shaikh said, “The woman’s husband took her to five hospitals but none was willing to admit her. Some said they didn’t have any vacant beds for people with Covid-19 symptoms. Others didn’t have ventilators. She died in an autorickshaw outside the sixth hospital.”

After speaking to doctors, Shahnawaz learnt that her life could have been saved if she had received oxygen in time. This encouraged the youngster to help those in need. Upon researching, he came to know that there was a shortage of oxygen cylinders in the market and decided to sell his SUV to raise money for it.

He said, “A friend of mine helped me contact a manufacturer directly. They were touched when I told them I wanted to buy cylinders and give them away for free. Since he began distributing them on June 5, he has given oxygen cylinders to more than 250 families of Covid-19 patients. There are just two simple things we ask from people calling for oxygen cylinders – one, a doctor’s recommendation, and two, if they can pick it up themselves, In exceptional cases, like when the entire family is in quarantine, a team of volunteers in protective gear travels across the city with oxygen cylinders. The farthest we have travelled is from Malad to Haji Ali. Volunteers can’t enter the house and, despite wearing PPEs, maintain social distancing.”

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“Seeing the situation of hospitals across the city, we have decided to provide oxygen cylinders to whoever is in urgent need of them. We are not disseminating on the basis poor or rich, Hindu, or Muslim. Whoever is coming to us with a doctor’s prescription, we simply deliver the oxygen cylinder to them anywhere in Mumbai.”