Sharing medicines, a panacea for community COVID ills
Volunteers arrange the mutual aid medicine kit in Shanghai's suburban Fengxian District.
A mutual aid medicine kit is driving away the winter chill and weaving a warm mutual help network in Shanghai's residential communities.
The campaign, launched by Youth League Shanghai, encourages residents to share their spare medicines with needy neighbors as the number of COVID-19 infection surges.
The medicines are put in mutual aid medicine kits at designated spots in residential complexes with the help of young community volunteers.
The practice covers all the 16 city districts, including the Pudong New Area, and nearly 9,000 pieces of medicines had been collected and distributed to needy residents in two days, according to the Youth League.
Yu Lili and her husband at the Lantianyuan residential complex in Nanqiao Town of suburban Fengxian District have given 2,000 pills of antipyretic to neighbors.
The medicines are placed at the entrance of their residential complex and those in need can take them for free.
The medicine kit
It has really helped those in need.
A 102-year-old community resident, who developed fever symptoms due to COVID-19, has recovered thanks to the medicines.
Yu and her husband, a post-90's couple, have become volunteers for managing the medicine kits.
"The medicine kits contain many medicines collected from residents," said Yu. "In addition to antipyretic, there are other medicines like ibuprofen and paracetamol tablets, and their circulation among the community brings the value of these surplus medicines into full play."
The practice has won the thumb-up of residents of the Chengkaixin community in Minhang District.
As a community with rental apartments, the complex has a large proportion of young residents.
"They usually don't have the habit of storing medicine as a precaution and encountered a shortage of medicines as COVID infections peaked (recently)," said Sun Dingkun, manager of the community.
"There have been quite a number of fever patients in our community and the sharing can meet their emergency demand of medicines to some extent."
"Information from warm-hearted residents keeps pouring into the community's WeChat group, expressing their willingness to share medicines," said Sun Huihan, a neighborhood committee official in Songjiang District.
"The small medicine kit relieves the anxiety of residents and pools power in the battle against COVID-19 at the community-level."
The medicine kit
