A patient receives medical oxygen in a ward at the Covid-19 Care Center in New Delhi.
Jaspreet Rai is desperately trying to do her part for the country she left more than 30 years ago: help its people breathe.
Rai, 53, who moved to Endicott, New York the birthplace of IBM from Punjab, is the founder of Sanrai International, a provider of oxygen concentrators. With India now the epicenter of the pandemic, counting about 3,500 Covid-19 deaths daily, and oxygen supplies running out, Rai has rushed to help her former homeland cope with its worst crisis in recent history. This is probably the hardest time they re going through, Rai said of her 100-strong staff on the ground, who will supply 30,000 units across India in May, several times the 1,500 Sanrai normally provides in a year. When you don t have equipment, and you re trying to hold people, and they re gasping, literally gasping for air. And you re like, look, I ve sold my last unit, I have to wait until the next stock com
Read more about Covid: Indian diaspora struggles to help homeland gasping for air on Business Standard. The number of daily new coronavirus cases in India on Saturday topped the 400,000 mark for the first time
Millions of Indians spread across the globe one of the worlds largest diasporas are trying to do what they can to help their country of origin as heart-wrenching images of people lining up for oxygen cylinders, waiting outside hospitals for a bed or huddling around funeral pyres flash across their screens. Some have been unable to do anything to save family members who have succumbed to the disease.
A medic checks on a Covid-19 patient at a hospital in Bengaluru. (ANI Photo)
Jaspreet Rai is desperately trying to do her part for the country she left more than 30 years ago: help its people breathe.
Rai, 53, who moved to Endicott, New York the birthplace of IBM from Punjab, in India, is the founder of Sanrai International, a provider of oxygen concentrators. With India now the epicenter of the pandemic, counting about 3,500 Covid-19 deaths daily, and oxygen supplies running out, Rai has rushed to help her former homeland cope with its worst crisis in recent history.
“This is probably the hardest time they’re going through,” Rai said of her 100-strong staff on the ground, who will supply 30,000 units across India in May, several times the 1,500 Sanrai normally provides in a year. “When you don’t have equipment, and you’re trying to hold people, and they’re gasping, literally gasping for air. And you’re like, look, I’ve sold my last unit, I have to wait unt
Indian diaspora struggles to help a homeland in COVID crisis
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By Todd Gillespie and Kartikay Mehrotra
May 2, 2021 12.01am
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Jaspreet Rai is desperately trying to do her part for the country she left more than 30 years ago: help its people breathe.
An employee inside an oxygen filling centre in Bengaluru, India.
Credit:Getty Images
Rai, 53, who moved to Endicott, New York - the birthplace of IBM - from Punjab, in India, is the founder of Sanrai International, a provider of oxygen concentrators. With India now the epicentre of the pandemic, counting about 3500 COVID-19 deaths daily, and oxygen supplies running out, Rai has rushed to help her former homeland cope with its worst crisis in recent history.