Subhash Todankar’s oxygen saturation level had dropped to 36 per cent. Struggling on a ventilator, he had to move across six city hospitals for care amid the peak of the Covid pandemic. The 52-year-old BEST conductor with 29 years of service said he could return to the job only because the undertaking’s medical department stood by him rock solid, pulled him from the jaws of death and put him on the path to recovery.

Ramchandra Shinde, 58, from Satara had been a BEST man all his work life. At the fag end of his career, the virus got the better of him, confining him to a Covid care centre for 15 days. Shinde recovered just a week before retirement but chose to resume duty when many younger colleagues remained absent despite requests and warnings. It was the BEST’s medical department that supported him throughout the crisis.