As the Covid-19 crisis intensifies in India, many organizations and individuals are stepping up to offer whatever help they can to alleviate some of the sufferings. One such individual is Philadelphia doctor Ruchika Talwar.

Talwar, a 28-year old resident at the University of Pennsylvania, has raised nearly $500,000 in just one week to send critical supplies directly to state-run hospitals in India. 

Feeling helpless in the face of the crisis, Talwar sent out a tweet and an email to 30 friends and family members with a fundraising goal in mind. Her mother is a graduate of the Maulana Azad medical school in Delhi, so their goal was to send 50 oxygen concentrators (which cost $500 each) to their colleagues on the ground. Talwar says her phone was soon filled with thousands of messages of people eager to contribute. Even Penn Medicine, Talwar’s employer, has pledged $50,000.

Now that her initial goal has been met, Talwar is sending out real-time photos of the distribution process to assure donors their money is being used for good. She plans to continue sending critical supplies to hospitals as long as the donations keep coming in. 

India continues to set record-high numbers of daily cases at well over 300,000 per day. If you would like to contribute to relief efforts, check out our resource article with a list of organizations offering aid.