Free oxygen concentrators at doorstep: Ola-GiveIndia initiative launched

Bengaluru: O2ForIndia, an initiative to provide oxygen concentrators free of cost through Ola app for home-isolated COVID-19 patients, was launched on Wednesday.

Speaking after launching the Ola Foundation-GiveIndia Foundation initiative, Deputy Chief Minister and State COVID task force head C N Ashwath Narayana, said to start with, this service was being implemented at Malleshwaram and Koramangala here.

The initiative would be expanded throughout the city and also to all the places where Ola is operating, Narayana's office quoted him as saying in a statement.

"This will be given only for those whose oxygen saturation is below 94. This is not required and will not be given for those whose oxygen level is above 94," according to him.

The service is rolled out in Bengaluru with an initial set of 500 oxygen concentrators.

Ola and GiveIndia would scale it up across the country with up to 10,000 concentrators in the coming weeks, Narayana said.

Those who require oxygen (oxygen saturation below 94) need to log into the Ola app and request an oxygen concentrator by providing a few basic details.

Once submitted, the request would be validated and Ola would then pick up the concentrator via one of its cabs with a specially trained driver and bring it to the doorstep of those who placed the request within 30 minutes.

The home-isolated beneficiary shall have to pay a refundable amount of Rs 5,000 per concentrator.

Once the patient gets better and no longer requires the concentrator, Ola would pick up the device and return it to GiveIndia to give it to the next patient who needs it.

This entire service process would be seamless and the oxygen concentrator, as well as the doorstep delivery and pickup, would be completely free, the statement said.

Ola's Chief Operating Officer Gaurav Porwal said, "We're beginning in Bengaluru today and will be rolling this out across the country with up to 10,000 concentrators soon". Through this initiative, we will provide oxygen concentrators to those recovering or isolating at home, right at their doorstep, said K P Vinod, MD, Alliances and Government Partnerships, GiveIndia.