New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) Employees of Accenture in India have developed a plasma donor repository and are running a COVID-19 helpline to validate leads for resources like hospitals with available ICU beds to help their peers amid the deadly second wave of the pandemic.

Similarly, MakeMyTrip Foundation has launched CoviRide - an open, peer-to-peer community platform - designed to help individuals, organisations and the larger community to seek and provide transport-related assistance.

India is registering a record number of COVID-19 cases daily that has put extreme pressure on the healthcare infrastructure of the country. The number of new coronavirus infections touched 3,48,421 cases and 4,205 fatalities, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The massive rise in infections in the second wave of the pandemic has led to hospitals in several states reeling under a severe shortage of medical oxygen and beds. Social media timelines are filled with SOS calls with people looking for oxygen cylinders, hospital beds, plasma donors and ventilators.

Accenture said several employees volunteered initiatives are underway in the country.

"We have recently introduced a plasma donor repository developed by our people which matches our people who are eligible and willing to donate convalescent plasma with their Accenture colleagues and their families who need it.

“Our people are also involved in running a Covid-19 helpline for Accenture employees, and are validating publicly available essential information such as hospitals with available ICU beds or Oxygen suppliers in cities where our people are living," Accenture said.

Organisations across the spectrum have come forward to support the fight against the COVID pandemic. Right from covering vaccination costs and paid leaves to connecting them to medical support upon infection, organisations are taking several measures to provide care and support for employees and their families amid the pandemic.

Travel platform MakeMyTrip said its CoviRide platform is available on mobile web and desktop and aims to help people find transport options (intercity or intracity), including ambulance services for COVID-19 infected patients.

Additionally, it helps the user locate a ride to a vaccination centre, drive through oxygen centres, to and from the hospital and for medical equipment transfer such as oxygen cylinder, concentrator, medicines, among others.

There is also an 'Offer a ride' feature that allows individuals to volunteer and offer a ride to anyone in need of any transport assistance. Currently, the platform lists transport leads and sources in New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Agra and will be expanded to other cities shortly.

MakeMyTrip Foundation is also procuring 300 oxygen concentrators and an initial set of OCs have already been shared with Gurugram administration, Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital, Delhi; NGOs like Hemkunt Foundation and National Association for the Blind (NAB).

The foundation is also collaborating with RWAs across Delhi-NCR to assist in setting up COVID care facilities at large residential areas by providing oxygen concentrators.

In parallel, MakeMyTrip Foundation is extending support to Gurugram administration through manpower deployment for contract tracing and data management services.

Innovaccer, a healthcare technology company, said it has established a 'Taking Care of Our Own Fund' wherein employees can sign up to add contributions that are used to assist employees during the COVID crisis. Innovaccer will match their contributions 1:1 towards this fund.

B2B commerce company Moglix said it has already provided oxygen concentrators to more than 25 organisations in the last 10 days. Apart from enabling home quarantine services and mental health counselling services, Moglix is also working with Nocca Robotics to ensure indigenous ventilators can reach the hospitals and people who require them.

Job-tech startup Awign has focussed on training and placing gig workers in diagnostic labs. These workers are engaged in tasks like managing data entry operations, daily sample collection and setting up virtual help desks that support COVID patients and ensure timely delivery of essentials. Awign has already engaged with over 150 skilled workers in a week and is training more people.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)