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E-commerce major Amazon would airlift, import and donate 100 ICU (intensive care unit) ventilator units from the US to ramp up India’s supplies for fighting the second wave of Covid-19.
Amazon India has procured 100 ventilators through its global resources to immediately import into India. This is part of Jeff Bezos-led Amazon’s commitment to help India fight the devastating second wave of Covid-19.
The e-commerce giant has worked with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, to ensure the ventilators are of acceptable technical specifications. It has also carried out its own compatibility checks to immediately fund 100 units of Medtronic’s PB980 model and bring them into India for urgent use.
“Amazon will work closely with Medtronic (MT) for these units to be airlifted into India and we expect the consignment to enter the country in the next two weeks. Amazon India is working closely with the MoHFW appointed agencies to finalise the hospitals with the most urgent need so that Amazon can partner with MT for end-to-end delivery, installation, maintenance and training of personnel who will use these machines,” the company said in a statement.
“With the urgency of adding to the medical infrastructure and capacity for Indian hospitals fighting against Covid-19’s severe second spike, we decided to urgently source, import and donate 100 ventilators to hospitals,” said Amit Agarwal, global senior vice-president and country head, Amazon India. “We are doing more and are committed to supporting our country in the fight against Covid-19.”
This week, Amazon also joined hands with various industry partners and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to urgently bring in 10,000 oxygen concentrators and BiPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure) machines to India.
The company also joined hands with ACT Grants, Temasek Foundation, Pune Platform for Covid-19 Response (PPCR) and other partners to urgently airlift over 8,000 oxygen concentrators and 500 BiPAP machines from Singapore. Additionally, Amazon India is procuring over 1,500 oxygen concentrators and other critical medical equipment. This will be donated to hospitals and medical facilities in partnership with multiple non-profits including Swasth, Concern India and impact organizations like ACT Grants and Sattva Consulting.
