The COVID-19 control room at the official residence of Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala at Cantonment House here has emerged in some measure as an alternate distress relief mechanism for the public.
For instance, on Sunday, the office intervened to rush life-sustaining medicines to three kidney patients in Kollam district. The imported drugs were languishing in the warehouse of a distributor in Kochi, who had no means to reach the medicines to the patients. Following Mr. Chennithala's intervention, the police operated patrol vans in relays from one station to another to deliver the medicines to the patients.
In another instance, the office arranged ambulance transport for a pregnant woman caught in the lockdown in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. The woman, who developed complications, could not get herself admitted to a private hospital because she did not immediately have the ₹1.2 lakh the management had demanded as advance payment.
Her husband moved the office, which had doctors in New Delhi examine her and arrange for her transport to Kerala by ambulance.
Mr. Chennithala's office received scores of calls for help through the weekend. It deployed Congress workers to assist several aged couples living alone. Most of the complaints were about the quality and quantity of rice distributed through ration shops. So far, the office has processed 5,000 petitions.
The control room numbers are 8921285681, 8848515182, 9895179151 and 0471 2318330.
