UK sends life-saving medical equipment to India to help fight Covid-19. The support follows a request from India and PM pledge for the UK to do all it can. Ventilators and oxygen concentrator devices due to leave UK. First package due to arrive in Delhi early on 27th April 2021, with further shipments later this week
More than 600 pieces of vital medical equipment will be sent to India to support the country in its fight against Covid-19, the UK Government has announced.
The assistance package, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, includes ventilators and oxygen concentrators from surplus stocks. It will be used by the Government of India to provide vital medical treatment to those suffering from Covid-19 in India.
The Department of Health and Social Care has worked closely with the NHS, as well as suppliers and manufacturers in the UK to identify reserve life-saving equipment that can be sent to India.
India has this week reported its highest numbers of new daily cases and deaths since the pandemic began and is facing severe shortages of oxygen.
Following discussions with the Government of India, the first shipment of equipment will leave the UK today, arriving in New Delhi in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Further shipments are due to follow later this week.
In total, nine airline container loads of supplies, including 495 oxygen concentrators, 120 non-invasive ventilators, and 20 manual ventilators, will be sent to the country this week. This equipment will be crucial in helping to save the lives of the most vulnerable in India. The oxygen concentrators, for example, can extract oxygen from the air in the atmosphere so that it can be provided to patients, taking the strain off hospital oxygen systems and allowing oxygen to be provided in situations where hospital oxygen supplies have run out.
The UK is working closely with the Government of India to identify further assistance it can provide in the coming days.