AS FOREIGN AID ARRIVES, CENTRE LAYS DOWN PLAN TO ENSURE SWIFT DISTRIBUTION

NEW DELHI: As relief materials for India’s Covid-19 response began pouring in from countries such as the UK and Ireland, the government on Tuesday established procedures to ensure supplies, especially oxygen and related equipment, promptly reach the worst-hit areas across the country.

The UK and members of the European Union (EU), which activated its Civil Protection Mechanism for emergencies on Sunday, were among the first to respond to India’s pressing needs for oxygen and medical equipment as the country grapples with a devastating second wave of the pandemic that has seen six straight days of more than 300,000 infections.

People familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity that a high-level interministerial group established procedures for immediate clearance of materials from abroad.

“The material would be dispatched promptly to recipient institutions in various parts of the country in coordination with different government agencies,” said one of the persons cited above.

A total of 100 ventilators and 95 oxygen concentrators arrived from the UK on Tuesday, part of a package of 495 oxygen concentrators and 140 ventilators pledged by London while France is sending eight large oxygen generating plants that can each meet the needs of a 250-bed hospital and five containers of liquid oxygen that can cater to the needs of 10,000 patients a day.

Germany is sending a mobile oxygen production plant that will be available for three months, 120 ventilators and more than 80 million KN95 masks.

Other members of European Union have pledged more oxygen-related equipment, ranging from 700 oxygen concentrators being sent by Ireland on Wednesday to smaller batches of ventilators and oxygen concentrators from countries such as Romania, Luxembourg and Sweden.

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