Covid-19 crisis: UAE sends medical relief supplies to India

New Delhi - The relief materials include oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, testing kits, Remdesivir vials and Favipiravir tablets.

India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has received a consignment of Covid-19 relief medical supplies, and equipment from the UAE, for onward dispatch to states urgently in need of the materials.

The relief materials include oxygen cylinders, oxygen concentrators, ventilators, testing kits, Remdesivir vials and Favipiravir tablets.

"Effective immediate allocation and streamlined delivery to the recipient states and institutions is an ongoing exercise," the ministry said.

A dedicated cell has been created in the ministry to coordinate the receipt and allocation of foreign Covid-19 relief material as international cooperation in the form of grants, aid and donations.

"We are aware that stocks are available in the UAE. So, wherever stocks are available, we are trying to contact them and trying to get it into our country at the earliest so that we can cover the short term gap", India’s Foreign Secretary, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, had said in a media briefing last month.

Meanwhile, Indian navy ship Shardul arrived in New Mangalore port in south India from Kuwait, on May 27, with tanks and semi-trailers carrying 210 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen and 1,200 oxygen cylinders. This is the second phase of relief supplies from Kuwait.

"The supply cycle between the State of Kuwait and the Republic of India is fully operational and is committed to transporting a total of 1,400 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen to meet the urgent requirements," a statement by Kuwait said.

• India