Diaspora doctors, professionals launch Project Madad to combat COVID-19 spread in rural India

As the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic batters rural India, a voluntary group of doctors and professionals from the diaspora in the US and from India has launched a unique initiative that will provide virtual time-sensitive information to healthcare workers in rural areas on treating COVID-19 patients, real-time details on hospital bed availability and counter vaccine misinformation.

Project Madad has been created with a mission that proper education and training of local healthcare workers and Registered Medical Practitioners (RMPs) will be fundamental in controlling COVID-19 spread in rural India.

The Madad team is initially working with RMPs in rural Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and hopes that its model will be scaled in other areas and assist healthcare workers to recognise COVID-19 symptoms, treat mild cases at homes and provide advice on vaccination, dangers of overmedication and other best practices.

At a time when medical infrastructure and capacities in urban and rural areas are already on the brink and doctors overwhelmed with increasing caseloads, Project Madad is focused on educating and training RMPs, sharing information in local languages and procuring access to vaccines, basic medical supplies such as masks, oximeters and oxygen concentrators for communities.

When the COVID-19 crisis initially started, we noticed that rural India was not getting attention at all, Project Lead Raja Karthikeya told

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