Another member of the minority community has stepped forward to ease the suffering of the Covid-19 crisis. Autorickshaw driver Javed Khan has turned his small vehicle into a free ambulance equipped with oxygen support for infected patients in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

The city has suffered much during the second wave of Covid-19 with some residents claiming the epidemic is worse than the after-effects of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Workers at crematoria are overwhelmed with the incessant arrival of corpses. In such a situation, Khan, who earned Rs 200-300 per day on average has taken up the mantle of transporting patients to hospitals and other places of assistance.

Speaking to SabrangIndia, he said, “Most of the people I ferry across the city are poor people who cannot afford ambulance service. It’s a 24-hour service I am providing. A friend and I also try to help with medicine if the patient is unable to get it.”

In a report by a newswire, Khan said he thought about such a method of assistance after watching social media and news channels that showed people being carried to hospitals due to the shortage of ambulances. Residents claim that ambulances are difficult to arrange and often unaffordable due to rising demand.

With limited financial resources, Khan told media persons that he has had to sell his wife’s jewellery amounting to Rs. 5,000 to continue his free service. Along with ferrying people, he also refills his oxygen supply to help patients. A single cylinder costs about Rs. 600.

“My contact number is available on social media. People can call me up if there’s no ambulance. I’ve been doing this for 15-20 days now and have taken nine serious patients to hospital,” he said.

The contact number for the rickshaw ambulance is: 7999909494.

Although he has hardly met his family since starting the service, the 35-year-old told SheThePeople that it was his family’s suggestion to turn his three-wheeler into an ambulance. The vehicle is also equipped with medicines, sanitisers and as per some reports, PPE kits. Further, the driver’s seat is partitioned with a plastic sheet to protect Khan from infection. While there is no funding system to sustain Khan’s service, the good Samaritan said he will not shy away from borrowing money to continue his makeshift ambulance.

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There has been good news and cheer after the Gujarat Board released the results of science stream of class 12 on May 11.  PTI reports that the family of Farhana, daughter of a auto rickshaw driver, Farooqbhai who scored 99.72 percentile in medical stream was both thrilled with her achievement yet also worried about future prospects in furthering her education, given severe financial constraints.

Farhana’s mother Shamim Bavani responded emotionally when she said,“Koi khushi nahi hai hume (we are not happy)” she said. The family was unhappy as Gujarati and English medium papers of National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) were different and the Gujarati medium question paper was more difficult. They said that the combined result would be unfair to Farhana and other thousands of students like her.

They were all disheartened and said that the girl had never considered any other career option. Her mother also said “We have just one wish, the government must separate the Gujarati and English medium results. Maybe then our daughter’s work and dedication will yield results”

Resident of Ahmedabad’s Raikhad area, her mother said “Throughout these four semesters, she had a very good result and studied so hard but what was the point of this? For two years, she forgot to eat or sleep, she spent all her time studying to the extent that I had to feed her myself a lot of times.” Farhana’s childhood dream was to become a doctor, she adamantly chose Science as a subject inspite of her parents encouraging her to consider other options.

Adding to the disparity in the two question papers and the uncertainty of the NEET result, student of F D High School in Jamalpur Farhana said, “The Gujarati medium paper of NEET was very difficult as compared to the English medium one. The rigid rules for NEET exam were unnecessary. We were so sure that my result would be so good that I would get a free seat for MBBS. But the NEET paper surprisingly didn’t go well.”
 

The post Another Glass Ceiling Breached: Farhana Bavani Overcomes Deprivation to Score 99.72 % in XII (Science) appeared first on SabrangIndia.