Mobility company Ola to provide free oxygen concentrators on its app

Ola Foundation and GiveIndia will scale it up across the country with up to 10,000 concentrators in the coming weeks.

Ola Foundation, the philanthropic arm of ride-hailing firm Ola, has partnered with GiveIndia to provide consumers with oxygen concentrators for free through the Ola app.

The service will start rolling out in Bengaluru from this week with an initial set of 500 oxygen concentrators. Ola and GiveIndia will scale it up across the country with up to 10,000 concentrators in the coming weeks.

“With the O2ForIndia initiative in partnership with GiveIndia, we will provide free and easy access to oxygen concentrators to those in need,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, chairman and group CEO, Ola. “We hope this initiative brings much-needed support during these very difficult times and helps in mitigating the pain and the anxiety among those impacted.”

Consumers will be able to log into the Ola app and request an oxygen concentrator by providing a few basic details. Once submitted, the request will be validated and Ola will then pick up the concentrator via one of its cabs with a specially trained driver and bring it to the consumer’s doorstep.

Once the patient has gotten better and no longer requires the concentrator, Ola will pick the device back up and return it to GiveIndia to get it ready for the next patient who needs it. This entire experience will be seamless and the oxygen concentrator, as well as the doorstep delivery and pickup, will be completely free for consumers.

“Through this initiative, we will provide oxygen concentrators to those recovering or isolating at home, right at their doorstep,” said Atul Satija, CEO and founder 2.0 at GiveIndia. “We hope the easier access to oxygen will ease the distress of many patients.”

Many tech companies and startups are also coming up with new initiatives to provide support in addressing the crisis created by the second wave of coronavirus. Snapdeal, India’s largest value e-commerce company, has launched an initiative to connect Covid-19 patients with potential plasma donors. Using its wide reach in India across smaller towns and cities, Snapdeal has created an easy to use platform called 'Sanjeevani' accessible via the website and mobile app.

Patients and donors can register themselves with their mobile numbers or email ids and provide relevant information like blood group, location, age and donor recovery date. After registering, Snapdeal’s algorithm will look for relevant matches and connect patients with potential donors.

Sanjeevani was first launched to help the employees of Snapdeal find possible donors.  But given that it has been especially hard to find eligible plasma donors at this time, Snapdeal has opened this platform for everyone.

Sanjeevani will also help raise awareness on the importance of plasma donation and encourage recovered Covid-19 patients to donate.

Another startup, Droom, an online automobile marketplace, has announced a 1 crore budget to combat covid for its employees and dealers’ community under the banner – Droom Cares. Droom Cares is an initiative by the company for the well-being of its employees, the entire dealer community and other stakeholders.

As part of this initiative, Droom will ensure proper sanitisation of a few healthcare facilities, police stations, clinics, pharmacies, as well as the homes of healthcare workers in Delhi NCR to ensure they are protected from the virus. The company will be using Germ Shield, its anti-microbial coating developed by the company.

Droom has also created a Covid team to verify all leads regarding oxygen supply, hospital beds, ICU availability, oximeters, food suppliers, plasma donors, and life-saving drugs. This initiative enables Droomers to help anyone in need.

Droom has launched programmes for its over 20,500 dealers to provide support related to pharmaceuticals, covid vaccination, medical assistance. It would also provide an isolation ward to asymptotic dealers. The firm has also launched multiple programmes for Droomers by converting its Sector 15 office into an emergency response centre with telemedicine services, nurses, and all basic healthcare facilities.

“The second wave of the pandemic has triggered an unprecedented crisis for the country. We would like to show our commitment to society by trying to help people in these difficult times,” said Sandeep Aggarwal, founder, and CEO of Droom. “To overcome this situation, Droom has activated its Droom Care initiative for all its stakeholders, which will provide immediate relief to combat the current situation.