Abu Dhabi Hindu temple sends oxygen shipment to help India
The Baps Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi sent two tanks carrying 44 tonnes of liquid oxygen to India yesterday.
The shipment also contains 350 oxygen concentrators and 600 oxygen cylinders to help the country’s struggling healthcare system.
Sent from Dubai, it will reach Mundra in Gujarat state on Friday.
India faces an oxygen shortage as it reels under a severe second wave of the pandemic, and patients are being turned away from hospitals as a result.
Baps Swaminarayan Sanstha, the organisation building the UAE’s first traditional Hindu temple in the capital, plans to provide more than 440 tonnes of liquid oxygen a month, starting this week.
This would be enough to fill about 53,000 oxygen cylinders, which will be made available to the government and to the country’s Covid-19 hospitals that Baps supports.
“Covid-19 has completely taken India into its alarming grip,” said Swami Brahmavihari, a priest handling international affairs.
“Our role is to save as many lives as possible, to support the people in need.”
Yesterday, India reported 368,147 new coronavirus cases, taking its total to nearly 20 million, while deaths from Covid-19 rose by 3,417. The death toll was 218,959, according to health ministry data.
Medical experts say the actual figure may be five to 10 times higher than the official tally.
But the health ministry offered a glimmer of hope, reporting that positive cases relative to the number of tests conducted fell yesterday for the first time since at least April 15.
India’s coronavirus cases may peak between yesterday and tomorrow, according to a team of scientists advising the government.
This is a few days earlier than a previous estimate, because the virus spread faster than expected.
The Baps Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi sent 44 tonnes of liquid oxygen to India.
The shipment, comprising two tanks, will be used to fill thousands of cylinders in hospitals forced to turn away critically ill Covid-19 patients because of a shortage of oxygen.
About 350 oxygen concentrators, 600 oxygen cylinders and liquid oxygen stored at minus 185°C are part of the first phase of supplies sent by the temple group. The shipment was to be sent from Dubai and will reach Mundra in Gujarat state on Friday.
The Baps Swaminarayan Sanstha, the group building the UAE’s first traditional Hindu temple in the capital, plans to ship more than 440 tonnes of liquid oxygen a month, starting this week.
This will be sufficient to fill about 53,000 oxygen cylinders, said Swami Brahmavihari, a priest handling international affairs.
The oxygen will be available to the government and Covid-19 hospitals supported by Baps.
He said the group was keen to help during a time when “Covid-19 has completely taken India into its alarming grip”.
“Our role is to save as many lives as possible, to support the people in need,” he said.
Temple authorities aim to send a message of hope and faith to families during the surge in infections.
Several countries, including the UAE, sent medicine and oxygen equipment to areas in desperate need.
“Our biggest role is to not just supply oxygen, provide medical help, or reach out to people with food and facilities,” the priest said.
“The real help lies in providing emotional comfort, to generate positivity, to create hope that yes, this too shall pass.”
The group has provided about 10 million food packets to people in India.
It offers subsidised treatment to thousands of Covid-19 patients in five medical centres and field hospitals.
The group has built 1,200 temples around the world and is constructing a temple in Abu Dhabi that is scheduled to be completed next year.