In 1991, Jayesh Upadhyay who lives in Rajkot, Gujarat, came across a problem. His neighbour, an old lady suffered a leg injury. Later, she was prescribed to take help of a 'walker' for the next 4-6 weeks till she recovered. The old lady who was not from a privileged family found it difficult to buy the walker, which would become useless after a few weeks.
It suddenly struck Jayesh that there would be thousands of other such people facing similar problems of spending for medical assistance equipment which would become useless after a few weeks or months. He decided to set up a charity that will support the temporary needs of patients and help the family save their hard earned money to buy medical equipment. The money thus saved can be spent on other necessities of life. He thus set up a charity named Bolbala Trust in his hometown Rajkot.
After 31 years. Bolbala Trust is the foremost non-governmental organization in the region. The trust currently helps people with 58 types medical assistance equipment like oxygen concentrator machine, oxygen cylinder, hospital bed, wheelchair, suction machine, backrest, walker, toilet chair, walking stick, nebulizer, bed pan, urine pod, IV stand, water beds, ventilator etc. The trust has invested into various equipment. Some of these equipment have cost them up to Rs 100,000 per unit. Currently, the trust has invested Rs 50 million in medical equipment that it lends to home patients. The trust does not charge a single penny for lending the equipment.
According to Jayesh, currently the trust has been helping on an average 200 people everyday with one or the other equipment. They have been able to help over 200,000 people so far.. The trust has opened branches in other cities also to support local patients. Currently, the trust offers its services in different locations including the cities of Gondal, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Wankaner apart from few locations in Rajkot city. There is no reference required for lending the equipment, however, now the trust takes a small amount as a deposit which is fully refunded once the equipment is returned, to bring consciousness among people to return the equipment as soon as their requirement is over.
Senior citizen Ila Mehta has been bed ridden for a long time now. She lives with her husband Pramod, who needs to lift her from the bed everyday for meals. However, due to poor health Pramod was not unable to lift her, with no solution in sight. Because of financial condition, it was not possible for them to buy an expensive hospital bed at home that has a hydraulic system to lift the side of the bed whenever the patient wants to rise. When somebody told them about Bolbala Trust, they could not believe that there was indeed someone who could lend them a sophisticated hospital bed without charging a penny. Today each time when Ila and Pramod have their meals together talking with each other, they never forget to remember Bolbala Trust for giving them those small happy moments in between the struggles of life. In fact, the trust also waved off the deposit for them keeping in mind their financial condition.
Jayesh is also thankful to his donors which also includes the Indian diaspora in US and UK to support them with generous donations to purchase equipment and carry on their activities. Bolbabla Trust is currently the most respected charity operating with sophisticated corporate style working methods successfully taking up charity activities in different fields.
