By Jessy Joseph
New Delhi, April 26, 2020: On April 24, the call center of the Municipal Corporation of Kannur in Kerala had a Catholic bishop to attend the calls.
Bishop Alex Vadakkumthala of Kannur was seen noting down a list of essentials requested by callers and promising to deliver them within 24 hours.
The Catholic prelate was invited by the city mayor to help civil authorities after Kannur, a district in northern Kerala, reported most coronavirus cases in the southern Indian state for a few consecutive days.
The Kannur Municipal Corporation officials invited the bishop to work in their office. The bishop attended the calls from 10:30 am to 1 pm. He noted down the list of essential things the callers needed and handed them over to the authorities. The corporation delivers the provisions at the callers’ doorstep within 24 hours.
“I am glad that I could help the government in some way to curb the spread of the virus,” Bishop Vadakkumthala told Matters India on April 25 over phone.
He said he was among seven people at the center to attend the calls.
“We were getting calls continuously for vegetables, groceries, medicines and cleaning lotions and soaps.” One family he attended ordered 30 items. “Many families have exhausted their provisions,” the prelate added.
The bishop said he did not limit his service to listing the requirement for provisions. “After taking down the list I always enquire about their hardship and wellbeing during the lockdown. They were surprised,” Bishop Vadakkumthala said.
Hearing the bishop’s soothing words the callers were eager to know the identity of the person who attended the call. “People were surprised to know my identity. More than official kind of thing I wanted the people to know that there are people who care for them at the time of crisis,” Bishop Vadakkumthala said.
The bishop, who had lunch in the community kitchen, followed the lockdown precautions such as sanitizing hands, covering faces and observing social distancing norms.
He says he is willing to help the call center at any time if they require his service. “More than official it is witnessing in the public domain what we are,” he said.
The diocese has developed ‘Covid Support Chain,’ a mobile App, to help the people who have lost their jobs during the lockdown.
Kairos, the diocese’s social department, Vincent de Paul Society, all the 63 parishes and the religious houses now help the needy and daily laborers affected by the lockdown, the bishop said.
Kannur district has the second highest number of positive cases in Kerala, at 109. It is also the district with the highest number of active cases in Kerala, at 57, as well as one of the ‘red zones’ (hotspot).