CMC Vellore Update – May 26, 2021
India’s Supreme Court appoint CMC’s, Drs. Cherry Kang and JV Peter to India’s Covid Crisis Task Force
We’d like to share with our Foundation members the most recent update from Vellore CMC
Dear Members of the Vellore CMC Foundation Board,
Thank you all for your genuine demonstration of concern and caring for our friends at CMC Vellore and for those individuals and families of Vellore, India, who have been directly affected by the rapid spread of the coronavirus in their community. To support CMC COVID response, we have made two wire transfer equaling just under $550,000 (thus far) and we have also raised $852,602 (in cash contributions) towards our goal of $1.25 million. I am also pleased to report that in collaboration with Montefiore Medical Center and New York City Health & Hospital, we have assembled of list of new ventilation equipment and PPE supplies valued at $3.4 million that are scheduled for air shipment to India – with CMC as the designated recipient of these pre-approved Gifts-in-Kind.
Our latest update came in the form of an email from Dr. J.V. Peter (received on Sunday, May 23rd), where he stated the following:
“We are at the moment at 1082 beds. There is a lot of pressure from the government to increase this to over 1200 beds…we are finding that challenging because of manpower, steady supply of oxygen and some small things like oxygen flow meters…we increased the number of ICU beds since that is the area of greatest demand. The number of patients on the monitored home isolation program has crossed 600 at this point of time….our healthcare workers are working hard and contributing their level best. The only silver lining is that the number of cases seem to be plateauing in Tamil Nadu and we hope that over the next week to 10 days we will find some respite.”
I have remained in daily contact with Drs. Vikram Matthews and Chandra Singh, each of whom has been designated by JV Peter to lead CMC’s efforts to combat this unanticipated surge of the virus throughout the Vellore region. Through their dedication and willingness to assist, we have been able to provide our donors and other stakeholders with a clear understanding of CMC’s most urgent needs, as well as their progress with equipment acquisition, patient care and frontline worker safety. At the moment, CMC’s primary focus is on improving its non-invasive ventilation capabilities for “Level Two” patients resulting in the need for a greater number of Bi-Level Positive Airway Pressure (BiPap) machines. If successful, they will in turn reduce the number of COVID cases that require an ICU bed and the related quality of intensive care.
I am extremely grateful to both Vikram and Chandra for making themselves so readily available.
The faith-based community has been particularly supportive of CMC’s COVID response efforts having donated more than 25% of the total funds received to date. As we continue with our efforts to deepen the Foundation’s relationship with the numerous denominations headquartered here in the U.S., it is gratifying to see how of our existing relationships have come to our aid in this time of extraordinary need.
With much appreciation and my fondest regards,
Your help is still needed more than ever
As John Riehl, suggests, we too encourage you to continue to reach out to friends and family to urge them to support our effort to financially support our family founded hospitals in India. Thank you.
Join the Scudder Association Foundation in their support of this crisis
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