“We are working to improve the hospital facilities and be prepared to receive the third wave to ensure that no one who comes to our hospital dies.”
— Squadron Leader (Retd) Prem Khullar
The spirit of a soldier never dies. Nearing 85 years of age, Squadron Leader (Retd) Prem Khullar, is a spirited youth. He is helping to fight Covid on a war footing with the same zest as he served the Indian Air force for 23 years – with the same ‘josh’ he fought wars. And all this with financial help from NRIs and friends.
ABLE Charities, a voluntary organisation swung into work on a war footing by starting a full-fledged Corona hospital with 30 beds with ventilators at affordable rates at Palwal in Faridabad, during the Covid outbreak. Food and ration was distributed to thousands of migrant workers who left for their homes during the covid. Cooked rations with the help of local gurdwara, medicines to thousands of people from ABLE hospital and fresh water from the tubewell, footwear for those who had walked hundreds of miles was supplied to thousands.
Presently, “We are working to improve the hospital facilities and be prepared to receive the third wave to ensure that no one who comes to our hospital dies,” says Squadron Leader (Retd) Prem Khullar, the founder of ABLE Charities.
Prem Khullar set up a nursing home in a village, 75kms from Delhi, in a room without water or electricity, almost 27 years ago. Worked with bare amenities till a village donated nearly 7 acres for social work. Twenty years of continued toil and dedication has now resulted in a hospital where thousands of free CATARACT operations are done every year. “A latest dialysis centre where charges are just around Rs 600 is in big demand and being expanded,” says the retired Squadron Leader.
I took premature retirement from the Air Force in 1982, but the soldier remains a soldier for life, says Prem Khullar
Khullar now runs eight schools in the slums of Faridabad educating nearly 600 children for over twenty years. “All the children in the schools are given FREE lunch every day due to which perhaps attendance is 100 percent,” says the soldier at heart who is battling to improve lives for the under-privileged.
“I took premature retirement from the Air Force in 1982 to paint on a bigger canvas to serve the downtrodden,” says the ever-vibrant soldier who dares to dream at the age of 85 because he says, “The soldier remains a soldier for life.”
| ITEM Distributed in Raw Food Distrituion for 1 Family | ||||
| S.No. | Particulars | Per Family | Cost (In Rs.) | Total Cost |
| 1 | Aata | 5.5 Kg | 32 | 176 |
| 2 | Sugar | 1 Kg | 39 | 39 |
| 3 | Dal | 2 Kg | 78 | 156 |
| 4 | Rice | 3.5 Kg | 30 | 105 |
| 5 | Soap | 1 | 10 | 10 |
| 6 | Biscuits | 5 | – | 21.5 |
| Total | 507.5 | |||
| Total 2692 Families received Raw Distribution food from ABLE Charities | ||||
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