An army of student volunteers help authorities in triaging patients

They are mainly involved in contact tracing, arranging for care of patients in home isolation

Earlier this week, one of the COVID-19 response volunteer teams, was assigned an unusual task — to secure a special child and shift him to the hospital where his mother had been admitted in an emergency condition. The child with disabilities was in a traumatised state, huddled in a room on th second floor of an apartment in the city. The team that went to take his mother to hospital had reported to the war room that the boy had resisted attempts to take him along, and that they had to rush immediately to hospital to save the mother. “As there was no one immediately available to take care of the child, a second team was despatched to the place. Though the boy put up a struggle, we managed to take him to the hospital and be with his mother,” said A. Anand, a volunteer attached to the Karikalmpakkam PHC.