All it took was one night and a strong heart that beats for the lives of thousands of others for Sudesna Roy Chowdhury to make a big difference in these uncertain times. With cases of COVID-19 rapidly increasing in the migrant worker sector, the young lady was distraught as she didn’t want any patient care to be compromised as a result of communication error.

In light of the rising cases in dormitories, the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine graduate was volunteering as a Bengali interpreter to assist medical professionals in treating, offering medication, and providing assistance to Bangladeshi patients.
Her sister and parents were also actively involved in the translation works as there was a dire need for help in communicating between healthcare professionals and migrant workers, who did not share a common language.

She knew that there must be an easier and more efficient way to attend to the urgent assistance required in communication. The demand for interpreters and translators was also rising immensely as dormitory workers were being relocated to different venues to curb the spread of the virus and medical teams were being deployed to all dorms.
After careful consideration and a discussion with her friends on the frontline, she decided to build a website to ease the process of translation. In just 8 hours, she created a fully functional website. It was accessible, easy to use, had audio translations and instructions, and even an emergency contact list.

After the news of the site’s launch was released, usage of the site spread like wildfire. Word spread among the Army Medical Services and even some hospitals. Healthcare workers described her site as a staple and essential in ensuring the health of our migrant workers.
With Sudesna’s website, the process of determining whether a patient is sick is made efficient. Also, it improves the overall system of managing and detecting COVID-19 cases. She continues to make enhancements to the site such as adding translations for dosage instructions or common side effects and even intends on adding mental health resources for the workers.
COVID-19 has truly brought out the best in some people and Sudesna Roy Chowdhury is the perfect example of just that.
Bengali Translation Portal for COVID-19 | Website
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