43 countries assure aid to help battle the pandemic in India
NEW DELHI HAS ALREADY RECEIVED 87 CONSIGNMENTS FROM 28 NATIONS
NEW DELHI: More foreign aid to help India combat the raging second wave of the Covid-19 is in the pipeline, with 43 countries having committed to help the country , government officials said.
New Delhi has already received 87 consignments from 28 countries including the US, UK, Singapore, Netherlands, UAE, Bahrain and Qatar in the last 15 days since April 27. Government officials said that 64 of these have come through the government-to-government channel while the remaining 23 have arrived from private agencies or individuals.
The government has set up three dedicated channels for Covid-related aid: for countries; private donors; and those who want to directly send relief to the states. While the external affairs ministry facilitates the arrival of the shipments, the health ministry and Niti Aayog distribute the aid to states. The Centre has explained previously that the allocation is primarily to the states that have a high case load or regional medical hubs.
Government documents available with HT show that India has received at least 9,000 oxygen concentrators and 6,000 ventilators from abroad and a majority of these have already been delivered to the recipients.
The US and Canada have sent the highest doses of remdesivir, while the US, along with Ireland has sent highest number of oxygen concentrators — demand for medical oxygen has soared in many cities. These concentrators have been distributed to 11 AIIMSS across India, nine states and union territories and other institutions such as DRDO and the Army Base hospital in Delhi.
India also received 19 oxygen generating plants from countries such as the UK, Israel, the US, Germany, Italy and Ireland. These plants have (or are being) been installed at both public institutions such as ESIC hospitals in Faridabad and Okhla, and also private hospitals including Apollo hospital and BL Kapur hospital in Delhi. States such as Rajasthan, UP and Assam too, have received these plants.
While the highest number of ventilators were received from UAE and Netherlands, India also got four high-flow oxygen concentrators and liquid medical oxygen from Kuwait.
Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, “Our transparent system allows the donors to track the end-to-end movement of the goods with full information. All items which have been received until May 9 have been delivered to the recipients by May 10”.
“Between May 9 and May 12, we have received further items from South Korea, UAE, Egypt, UK, Kuwait, Israel, US and Netherlands. All of this too, were immediately dispatched. They are either in transit or has been delivered,” added Kant.