Offers of help pour in Kerala from outside India

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Centre facilitating the external aid of Covid-19 relief materials through duty waivers, offers for relief materials are flowing into the state.
The state received 137 cylinders with medical-grade oxygen from Bahrain.
Various non-government organizations and collective of individuals have promised cylinders with medical-grade oxygen, oxygen concentrators, hospital beds for makeshift hospitals, ventilators, oxygen flowmeters, humidifiers and oxygen storage units. The maximum number of commitments have come in the form of oxygen concentrators (603), hospital beds (500) and cylinders with medical-grade oxygen (445). The state has also received commitments for 45 ventilators, 10 humidifiers and an oxygen storage unit, according to top government sources dealing with the relief from abroad.
Enquiries from organizations and collectives from more and more countries are being received by the state. These include enquiries from USA, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Qatar, UAE and Bahrain, in addition to those from within the country. The maximum number of enquiries have come from the US (12).
The Centre had decided to exempt IGST on a string of relief materials relating to Covid. On the basis of the exemption, the state government had appointed a nodal officer to authorize and certify such relief agencies for the purpose of duty-free import. The exemption of IGST and customs duty has been given for several products that includes Remdesivir-active pharmaceutical ingredients, beta cyclodextrin used in the manufacture of Remdesivir, oxygen concentrators including flow meter, regulator, connectors and tubing, medical oxygen, vacuum pressure swing absorption (VPSA) and pressure swing absorption (PSA), among others.
All the relief materials so imported to the state are being channelized through the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd (KMSCL), which is then redistributing them to hospitals and beneficiaries as per the need assessment done by the government. In addition, Norka is also liaising with several NGOs, mainly including Keralites who are abroad, for facilitating such relief materials.
Besides what is being directly received by the state, the relief materials being received in New Delhi are being divided among states too, on a need-based assessment. Centre alloted a major share of relief material sent by the Indo-US strategic partnership forum to the state. This included 5,261 oxygen concentrators, 1,048 pulse oximeters, 52,329 antiviral face coverings and 4,81,697 rapid antigen testing kits.
The state has asked all those willing to send relief materials to contact in the email address: covidreliefkerala@gmail.com or call at 8330011259. All the Malayali associations abroad have been asked to contact Norka through: ceo.norka@kerala.gov.in or call at 8921958677.