Growing up, we have heard the adage ‘Health is Wealth‘, and the reverse “Wealth is also Health“. A healthy life is the highest blessing which must not be taken for granted. And these testing times serves as an eye-opener for everyone.

Today, the entire world is in the grip of the pandemic COVID-19. So far, there has been 416,686 confirmed cases and 18,589 deaths, globally. Deaths have been confirmed in at least 198 countries and territories.

Till date, there is no vaccine to cure COVID 19. Hence, social distancing and hygiene are the only two factors towards resisting COVID-19.

Social distancing is keeping at six feet between yourself and others – particularly if they are coughing and sneezing, and avoid touching your face, eyes and mouth with unwashed hands. Also, it is advisable to avoid unnecessary, unprotected contact with animals and be sure to wash hands after contact thoroughly.

The more separated we are, the safer this world is. We don’t have to gather around, or attend social gatherings, no matter how important they seem to be. These are simple acts of common sense that we all have to follow to keep ourselves safe primarily, then our families and finally this world. Yours and your family’s health is the future of this country.

There’s an Odia proverb that says “Aape Banchiley, Bapa ra Naa”; meaning only if you survive today, you can work tomorrow and keep up your family’s legacy.

The Union and the State govt are working rigorously towards minimizing the effect and eventually stop the virus from spreading. Still, all that governments, bureaucracies and the leaders can do is make rules and lay it out for us, but the final stroke to solving the puzzle is our involvement. Only if we a responsible citizens of this country, follow and implement the basic rules, this pandemic can be defeated.

We shouldn’t be taking this lightly, no matter which part of the world we are living in right now.

The most exceptional example would be the Canadian PM Trudeau’s wife- Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, who lived in a highly hygienic and protected place tested positive for coronavirus. If the virus can get to her, it can get to you too. And we can never forget what she said from ICU.

As a social worker, on a personal level, my medical institution Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) is well equipped and ready to fight it. At KIMS, we have 500 beds that are operative with an extra 500 backup beds which can serve more than 1000 COVID 19 positive people residing in the state.

Today we have signed the MoU with the state government to build the largest COVID-19 establishment in the entire country.

I am grateful to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik Ji for choosing KIMS as a partner for this noble endeavour and enabling us to serve the people of Odisha in their time of need.

Not just KIMS Bhubaneswar, but we will partner in providing state-of-the-art facilities that will be provided in another 3 to 4 tribal dominated places too.

Together, we can!