New York, Nov 16: A Kashmiri was the first recipient of Jaipur Foot USA’s first ever Global Humanitarian Award at a ceremony held in the Indian Consulate, New York.
The organisation, an NGO working for underprivileged and physically challenged people, while announcing the award said that it has been constituted to honour and recognise the selfless work of Indians who without caring for their lives, manage to help those in need.
In a statement, Jaipur Foot USA said that such people are always a call away when it comes to humanitarian efforts transcending borders.
“The first ever recipient of the award is Danish Manzoor Bhat. Originally from Kashmir valley in North India, Danish has always been someone whom people from across continents could reach out to in times of crisis. And he’s never let a soul down, ” it said.
A journalist by profession, Danish leads Newsweek Magazine in Asia as its Editorial Director and Sr. Vice President for Global Editorial Strategy & Innovation.
He became a household name on Indian Social Media and beyond during the COVID 2nd wave, the NGO said.
It said that people from across the country saw him deploy social media to connect patients with beds, ICUs, hospitals, Remdesvir, Ambulances and more.
He was lauded for his 24×7 availability on phone and on social media by public, top government functionaries, media and ministers —but most importantly by patients and their kin.
In the hardest initial 30 days of the covid-19 pandemic’s second wave, he helped 326 patients and ‘tele-triaged’ 460 patients suffering from the viral infection, the organisation said.
In Karnataka, Bengaluru; Danish, among many others, was the known name when it came to optimising processes and finding solutions to complex issues during the pandemic.
“Danish collected and distributed more than 1000 oximeters in Bengaluru among those who couldn’t afford. The key point of this initiative was that it was that these were delivered at doorsteps of Covid positive patients. He also created a unique model of sharing these Oximeters after use,” the statement said.
Those who recovered from Covid were tasked with keeping these Oximeters in rotation and passing them on to other people who needed these. Thereby reaching more than thousands of people with just 1000+ Oximeters.
The organisation said that Danish even helped hospitals in getting Oxygen supply in time.
Besides this Danish also helps “Rescuing Indians”, a not-for-profit helping Indians stuck overseas. Almost on a daily basis he was seen helping someone ot the other, in some part of the world, selflessly.
The award was presented in the Indian High Comission, New York by Consul General Randhir Jaiswal and Prem Bhandari, Chairman, JaipurFoot USA. Deputy Consul General, Varun Jeph was also present at the private ceremony.