This Article is From Apr 14, 2020

400 Assam Students To Help State People Stuck Outside Reach Home

"We have opened up a new helpline number on which people from Assam struck outside will call and volunteers would help them," Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

400 Assam Students To Help State People Stuck Outside Reach Home

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance group has donated 10,000 top quality PPE kits to Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati:

With the educational institutions closed in Assam due to nationwide lockdown to contain coronavirus, students in Assam have come forward to help the government.

As many as 400 students along with Assam's health department, would volunteer to help identify and create a database of students, professional, migrant workers, pilgrims and patients from the state who are struck in other states.

Assam government will extend financial assistance to them and also engage the same network of volunteers to help the government get people back to the state after the lockdown is relaxed.

"We are connected with almost 400 volunteer students, have opened up a new helpline number on which people from Assam struck outside will call and these volunteers would help them. Our 104 health call centre has been the backbone of our operations but we are now looking forward to these young volunteers who have themselves come forward to help the government at this hour of crisis," said Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Mr Sarma said that the coronavirus pandemic will have three stages of impact - short term, midterm and long term. He felt that while Assam has been able to handle the short term impact, the midterm impact would be felt when the lockdown is finally relaxed and interstate borders are opened and people start travelling.

He further informed that under Assam Arogya Nidhi initiative people from the state have contributed over rupees 91 crore for building healthy infrastructure including pre-fabricated COVID-19 hospitals.

The health minister said that Mukesh Ambani's Reliance group has donated 10,000 top quality PPE kits to Assam. Assam now has over 85 thousand PPE kits and the target is of 2 lakh kits.

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