By George Kannanthanam

Hyderabad, Feb 28, 2020: An online facility for anyone stressed about coronavirus (COVID-19) to talk to someone, was launched at the campus of the Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) at Hyderabad on February 26.

Responding to the increasing number of persons affected by the disease, Sister Victoria along with Father Mathew Abraham, the president and the director General of CHAI, launched the platform – www.coronacare.life.

“Fear and loneliness are the worst enemies of human beings in a moment of crisis. If we have a way to overcome fear and loneliness, human beings would most likely overcome crises situations of life,” said Sister Victoria, a physician.

This is the rationale to set up the website as increasing number of people across the globe get infected or affected by COVID 19.

What began as a local outbreak of influenza type attack on a group of people reported first on December 31, 2019, in Wuhan, China, has till February 27, affected 82,000 people and has taken more than 2800 lives, spread across 35 countries.

Every day the numbers are on the rise.

With every continent, except Antarctica, affected and more cases in Europe and the Middle East, World Health Organisation which had declared it a global health emergency is planning to upgrade it to the level of a pandemic. For the first time since its outbreak, there were more cases reported from outside China on February 26, signifying the growing global impact.

While every global agency is working overtime to find a solution to the Corona Virus disaster, there is no single agency or country that has all solutions. The situation calls for creative interventions from various non-governmental agencies, having access to the people, especially in the field of psychosocial support, Father Abraham says.

Billion Lives, a tech company with social passions based in Bengaluru, southern India, headed by John Santhosh, spearheaded the initiative by developing the necessary platform and tech solutions. People can come to the site for live chats, audio and video calls, apart from communicating through emails.

Project Vision, a Claretian social mission, based also in Bengaluru,coordinated with various national networks in India to bring together the required professionals who were willing to provide voluntary services.

Sister Doctors’ Forum of India and Kerala Association of Professional Social Workers provided the required expert volunteers.

Rajagiri Hospital based in the south Indian city of Kochi, Kerala, and its specialists Doctors Jacob and Neethu along with Sally John from Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, Maharashtra, trained the volunteers. All this background work was coordinated within ten days’ time, as Billion Lives worked on developing the platform.

Father Jojo Peter Ancheril, working in Claretian Publications in Macau, China, kept inspiring Project Vision with the information on the great need for such a forum for the huge numbers who are quarantined within China.

Father Ancheril also organized to get volunteers who could speak Chinese, both Mandarin and Cantonese. Project Vision managed to get volunteers who could communicate in German, French, Spanish and Italian, along with most languages in India.

The website is active and accessible. There are about 30 professionals from social work and psychology backgrounds ready to take your call, the organizers said.

Doctors are ready to answer your medical queries. People might just want to get information or they want to share their worries and concerns or they are affected in some way like being quarantined and so they want to openly speak with someone.

More partners and volunteers are expended to join the group. This platform can also be used for other emergencies if and when required.