Start-ups, VCS offer funds to tackle scarcity
As the situation in India continues to make headlines globally and the oxygen crisis escalates, more and more individuals, start-ups, and venture capitalists are offering help in different ways to people and families.
Early on Sunday, Us-based venture capitalist Vinod Khosla tweeted: “I’m willing to fund hospitals in India that need funding to import bulk planeloads of oxygen or supplies into India to increase supply. Public hospitals/ngos also please reach out.”
Later in the day, Zomato co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said the firm was partnering logistics startup Delhivery to raise ~50 crore to buy oxygen concentrators. Zomato’s Feeding India kickstarted the “Help Save My India” endeavour on Sunday to source oxygen concentrators and related supplies to help hospitals and families.
“The current wave has left our country gasping. Our hospitals are operating under dire situations and patients are struggling to get hold of oxygen. Under ‘Help Save My India’ endeavour, we are providing hospitals and patients with oxygen, food and health support for free,” Zomato said in a blog.
The oxygen concentrators procured through the initiative will be delivered to hospitals and patients as required through Delhivery.
Amid oxygen shortage and a faltering health system in the country, India is seeing over 300,000 cases daily.
An oxygen concentrator is a medical device that concentrates oxygen from ambient air. It is slightly bigger than an old-time computer monitor, and can be used to provide oxygen to moderately ill patients. The more severe Covid-19 patients require oxygen cylinders, which have been in severe short supply over the past few days.
On Saturday, Delhivery cofounder Sahil Barua had said in a Linkedin post: “We’re flying charters into India with oxygen concentrators and other essential supplies and can build more capacity.”
Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said the firm will raise ~2 crore to source oxygen concentrators. “We have sourced supplies for Oxygen concentrators while we place the order using our own money,” Sharma tweeted, along with a link to make donations.