COVID-19: Six US planes carrying medical supplies reached India in past few days
The US has so far sent six planes carrying emergency supplies to India, which is battling one of its worst public health crises.
The emergency supplies include 20,000 courses of remdesivir (125,000 vials) to help treat critically ill patients, nearly 1,500 oxygen cylinders, which can be repeatedly refilled at local supply centres, and one million rapid diagnostic tests to quickly identify COVID-19 cases.
The six planes, which have landed in just six days, also carried nearly 550 mobile oxygen concentrators that obtain oxygen from ambient air. These units have a lifespan of more than five years and can serve multiple patients at once, depending on their oxygen needs.
The US has also sent nearly 2.5 million N95 masks to protect healthcare professionals and other frontline workers.
According to the USAID, a large-scale deployable Oxygen Concentration System that can provide oxygen to treat 20 or more patients at a time and 210 pulse oximeters to measure oxygen levels in a patients blood to determine whether a higher level of care is needed has also been sent to India. The US government assistance to combat the current crisis is about USD100 million. The United States is continuing to work closely with Indian officials and health experts to identify and respond to emerging trends in this ongoing crisis, the USAID said.
The six shipments were made possible by a USAID-led whole-of-government effort, which included the Department of Defense, Department of State, Department of Health and Human Services, Travis Air Force Base, in partnership with the state of California, National Airlines, and United Airlines, it added.
Last week, the USAID immediately allocated funding to purchase locally an additional 1,000 mobile oxygen concentrators.
These life-saving units will be used in hundreds of primary health care facilities to address Indias critical oxygen shortage.
The USAID said it is also supporting the Government of Indias efforts to stand up 150 Pressure Swing Adsorption oxygen generating plants, allowing 150 healthcare facilities to generate their own oxygen for years to come.
“The official US response over the last few days to Indias horrific COVID crisis underscores the depth and breadth of Washingtons unwavering commitment to India. Both the Biden administration and the US Congress have spared no effort toward this end in a testament to the strength and character of the bilateral relationship, Ronak D. Desai, an expert on US-India relations at Harvard University and an international investigations attorney at Paul Hastings LLP, told
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