Allcargo Logistics Ltd will immediately ship 500 oxygen concentrators by air from Singapore free of charge for the Maharashtra government following a plea from Public Health and Family Welfare Minister Rajesh Tope as the Western state battles a “very severe” second wave of the pandemic.
An oxygen concentrator is a device that concentrates the oxygen from a gas supply by selectively removing nitrogen to supply an oxygen-enriched product gas stream.
Oxygen concentrators provide supplementary oxygen for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The state government has mobilised over 90,000 tents, 20 lakh masks, and oxygen concentrators from Singapore based Temasek Foundation, which is coordinated by Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust.
“However, we have a challenge in getting it shipped from Singapore,” Tope wrote in an April 21 letter to Shashi Kiran Shetty, Chairman, Allcargo Logistics.
The existing medical facilities, according to Tope, are inadequate to provide health services to a large number of Covid patients in the state.
“At this crisis point, mobilisation of tents, masks and oxygen concentrators would immensely help the government in beefing up health infrastructure and prevent casualties,” Tope told Shetty.
Shetty has reached out to Allcargo’s partner companies, including shipping lines, to transport other medical equipment to support the state government’s efforts, Allcargo Logistics said.