India COVID-19 crisis: Best charities for Aussies to donate to

Millionaires are fleeing on private jets with the rest of India’s population in a COVID crisis. So, what can we Aussies do to help?

India’s second wave has officially reached breaking point with the country’s healthcare system overrun by a whopping 350,000 new cases per day.

Images of bodies piling up -— up to 2,800 daily — have flooded the world press in recent weeks. Indian tycoons and rich families are now reportedly fleeing the nation for boltholes across Europe, the Middle East and Indian Ocean destinations. Unfortunately for the rest of the nation’s 1.4 billion population who don’t own private jets, the situation remains dire.

The pseudo-apocalyptic scene begs the question: What can we Aussies do to help?

Workers carry the body of a COVID-19 victim to a crematorium on April 24 in New Delhi, India. Picture: Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images

Australia’s federal government met this week to discuss sending excess ventilators to the struggling nation, but there are things the average citizen can do, too.

Aussie cricketer Pat Cummins turned heads on Tuesday after donating $50,000 to Indian hospitals. Vowing to see out the Indian Premier league as other Aussies flee home, Cummins said he was “touched by India’s passion and generosity”, contributing some of his Knight Riders pay packet to purchasing oxygen supplies for the country’s hardest hit areas.

While most Aussies don’t have a spare 50 grand to throw around, there are still ways we can help our mates in the subcontinent going through the worst coronavirus wave on record.

Here are some of the charities you can donate to right now to help save lives across the pond.

Ketto

#COVID#OxygenCrisis#OxygenShortage

As the covid situation is getting worse by the day, there is shortage of oxygen. Your support can help hospitals save their patient’s lives. Please help.@RanaAyyubhttps://t.co/QrYnociPws

— Ketto (@ketto) April 24, 2021

Indian online crowd-funding website Ketto has set up a campaign to help hospitals across the country get immediate access to oxygen concentrators. “As the COVID situation is getting worse by the day, there is shortage of oxygen. Your support can help hospitals save their patient’s lives,” the website tweeted on Saturday.

Donations can be made here.

GiveIndia

With cities & states going into local lockdowns, families who barely recovered from the financial struggle from last year’s lockdown, are facing extreme hunger again. Your donation can act as vaccination to protect them from the epidemic of hunger. Donate: https://t.co/P9qutSf3Wapic.twitter.com/ATI58HcDZq

— GiveIndia (@GiveIndia) April 27, 2021

Give India is an NGO based in Mumbai organising free oxygen supplies for hospitals. The charity has also set up a campaign called “Lockdown 2.0, Mumbai Needs You”, which plans to distribute 5000 emergency ration kits to civilians who don’t have ration cards or cannot access government support in Mumbai.

Donate to GiveIndia here.

Milaap

Milaap is another charity organising food for the most vulnerable in the hard lockdown, delivering food to COVID patients across Delhi and distributing over 1000 food packets per day to homeless people.

Donate to Milaap here.

Patients with COVID-19 receive free oxygen from a Gurdwara or Sikh holy place as supplies run short in New Delhi. Picture: Anindito Mukherjee/Getty Images

Khalsa Aid

NGO Khalsa Aid is one of world’s largest non-profit humanitarian organisations, delivering free oxygen concentrators to COVID-19 patients who are stuck in isolation in the national capital of New Delhi. Khalsa Aid has set up a hotline on 91156 09005 for anyone in urgent need of a concentrator.

Donate to Khalsa Aid.

Hemkunt Foundation

Don’t let the name fool you, the Hemkunt Foundation are top blokes. Based in Mumbai, this NGO deals in oxygen cylinders and needs all the help it can get as India faces dire shortages.

Volunteers have even set up a “Free Oxygen Cylinder Drive Thru”, prioritising people who are in urgent need of oxygen.

Donate to the Hemkunt Foundation here.