Private firms extend help to quake hit Nepal

Two days after Nepal was rocked by an earthquake that left over 3,700 persons dead and thousands injured, several private Indian firms have stepped forward to lend a helping hand in restoring normalcy in the Himalayan country.

Leading telecom services provider in India Airtel Monday decided to make all calls on its network from India to Nepal completely free of cost for the next 48 hours.

"As a small gesture during this hour of crisis in Nepal, Airtel have decided to offer all calls on the Airtel network from India to Nepal completely free of cost for the next 48 hours effective midnight, thus enabling customers across the country get in touch with their families and friends in Nepal," said a statement from Airtel.

Delhi based Six Sigma Healthcare, a prominent health provider, has deployed several high altitude medical rescue teams at several places at great heights where many other rescue teams have not been able to reach.

The hospital has sent several medical teams including a surgical team, an orthopaedic team and a trauma management team headed by Pradeep Bhardwaj, CEO of the hospital.

"Our teams are engaged in evacuation work also...Nine medical persons from our institutions are working day and night in the base camps of Mount Everest," Bhardwaj told IANS over the phone from Nepal.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also been working with the civil administration of Nepal to restore normalcy in the areas that have suffered severe devastation in the earthquake battered country.

A statement from the WHO said that it had handed over four emergency health kits comprising of medicines and medical supplies and 175,000 US dollars as the first tranche of emergency health funds to meet the immediate health needs of the earthquake affected people.

"Within hours of the tragedy, WHO disbursed medical supplies to cover the health needs of 40,000 people for three months. These supplies are in the form of inter-agency emergency health kits and were given to hospitals in Nepal treating the injured," WHO South-East Asia Regional Director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said in the statement.