Ongole: In this crisis period, while assaults on doctors making headlines every second day, a village in Andhra Pradesh pooled in Rs 20 lakh to save a doctor, who has been fighting for life after testing positive for Covid-19.
Hailing from a village — Karamchedu — in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh, Dr N Baskara Rao has tested positive for Covid-19 on April 24. Initially, he has undergone treatment at a hospital in Vijayawada. Later, he was shifted to a private hospital in Hyderabad, where they have declared his lungs were severely affected and the organ has to be transplanted for which Rs 2 crore would be billed.
Bhaskar Rao’s wife, Bhagyalakshmi, who is a Radiologist herself, with her unflinching grit to save her husband, tried for crowdfunding as she didn’t have the whopping amount for the treatment. With her attempt, the state came together to help, as the state government announced an amount of Rs 1.5 crore to be given for Bakara Rao’s treatment.
The government’s contribution has brought back the life of the doctor, but not completely, there was still a fund crunch and hence the villagers got to know that their doctor, was in trouble eventually the people from Karamchedu came together to fund their doctor’s health return, who was combating for life.
N Baskara Rao was a renowned doctor at Karamchedu as he single handedly treated many people from the village, who were infected with the deadly virus. In this process, he has contracted the virus. Even his wife Bhagyalakshmi has tested positive but she could recover. Villagers who recovered from Covid-19 with the help of Baskara Rao, took the initiative to crowdfund for their doctor.