New York City to aid India's Covid battle

NEW YORK: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that the city will tap into its stockpile to send Covid-19 test kits, swabs, ventilators, BiPap machines, pulse oximeters, and other medical supplies to India, which is currently battling a devastative second wave of the pandemic.

However, de Blasio didn't disclose the quantity and schedule about the transnational aid.

"Now, it is our turn to step up and help India in its moment of crisis. We are sending vital medical equipment to India to send a clear message: nobody is in the fight against COVID-19 alone.

"Together, we can save lives and beat back the pandemic," the Mayor said in a statement issued on Friday.

New York City Health Commissioner Dave A. Chokshi, an Indian-American, said: "Our city, home to thousands of Indian-born New Yorkers, and our country have a moral imperative to demonstrate global solidarity in order to overcome this devastating pandemic."

Chokshi appealed to the White House to take further action to waive Covid-19 vaccine patents and said that all research, technology and techniques for producing the jabs should be publicly shared.

"New York's thousands of Indian-Americans are filled with anger and helplessness as they witness the unnecessary tragedy back in the country that shaped each of us as a child," said Harpreet Singh Toor, co-founder and president of South Asians for Global Empowerment.

Toor said it is the right time to call for a full-scale effort to donate vaccines, Covid-19 test kits, swabs, ventilators, pulse oximeters, and every other type of relief possible to India.

The US has delivered six plane-loads of emergency medical supplies to India in fighting against a Covid-19 wave, according to a release by the US Agency for International Development on May 6. IANS

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