Ashamed to see the helpless situation, Nila Madhab Panda devotes his Delhi office, staff for Covid-19 relief work

In the fight against the ongoing health crisis, National Award winning director Nila Madhab Panda is working round the clock with his staff in Delhi, to assist people looking for medical facilities. He says it was the “suffocating SOS calls and countless sleepless nights” that shook him up, and pushed him to stand with humanity.

“It has been a nightmare. For 20 days, I could not sleep. (That is when) I put my whole Delhi office at work,” he tells us, adding, “There was a time when I started feeling suffocated in this city where I’ve now lived for 25 years. There was no oxygen, no bed, no vital medicines available in shops.”

At that point, Panda, 47, reached out to his friends, and started supplying medicines to different parts of Delhi.

“Then we realised there was a big oxygen shortage. I got six cylinders from Bhubaneswar and started circulating it, and arranging oximeters. The most important step was when I started using my social media to help people who were in need of hospital beds. I must have admitted about 25 patients,” he reveals.

The way the crisis unfolded in the county, especially Delhi, followed by lack of life saving facilities, is something that raised an alarm.

“You can have all the power, money, and technology, but you can’t make a person survive when you don’t have oxygen. Put all that together and in the national capital of India,” says the director-producer.

Continuing his lashing, the I am Kalam (2010) maker states, “People died without oxygen. Shame on us. Just the modernity and money isn’t enough for one to survive. But understanding life and its basic needs like health, care, education and most importantly man and nature ecosystem, are essential for a sustainable life”.

While the pandemic might end soon, the director rues, “we will always remember our people who we’ve lost because of helplessness”.

Panda, who explores environmental issues, and its impact on the planet through his projects, feels the pandemic and its consequences is linked to climate change.

“The more you destroy nature, the more it’ll hunt you. We’ve gone aggressive and dented the ecosystem. It’s high time we realise that and make the world a better place,” he ends on a positive note.

ott:10