Corporate giants join the global race to fight India Covid crisis
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Last Updated: Apr 29, 2021, 11:16 AM IST
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With haunting visuals of mass funeral pyres, long lines of ambulances outside overcrowded hospitals, and desperate pleas on social media for oxygen canisters, the unfolding tragedy is prompting some of the biggest corporations to organize aid for a country they view as a crucial market with 1.3 billion consumers.
AP
Oxygen cylinders being loaded at a charging station in Prayagraj. Most critical has been the unavailability of medical oxygen.
As Indian authorities and hospitals struggle to cope with record Covid-19 infections and deaths, companies ranging from the nation’s biggest conglomerate to global giants like Amazon.com Inc. are stepping in to help ease the crisis.
Led by Indian American Ajay Banga, Mastercard April 27 announced a $10 million commitment to directly address critical COVID-19 needs in India.
Over the past few weeks, the country has seen a spike in both COVID-19 diagnoses and deaths, with the healthcare system being stretched to its limits as more than 350,000 new cases are identified each day, the Mastercard news release said.
The philanthropic efforts, delivered through the Mastercard Impact Fund, will focus on three priority areas â access to hospital resources, access to additional oxygen supplies, and continued support of the companyâs employees across the country, it said.
The largest contribution will be designated to support the expansion of 2,000 beds through the installation of portable hospitals that can address the immediate healthcare needs. Working with the government and local partners on the ground, these hospitals can be constructed quickly and could help an estimated 2.5 million Indians gain access t
IT services major Cognizant launched Operation C3 Cognizant Combats Covid-19 as to help its associates in India and their communities which are impacted by the outbreak. These efforts will be focused on three primary areas: supporting Covid care facilities, supplementing oxygen supplies to address the acute shortage, and providing access to vaccinations. “We are immediately providing $1.5 million (approximately Rs 10 crore) through the Cognizant Foundation to operationalize response efforts with our partners across India. We’re also providing an additional $2 million (approximately Rs 15 crore) in emergency funding to Unicef in India to help address acute shortages in life-saving oxygen and deploy medical and testing supplies,” said Rajesh Nambiar, Executive Vice President and Chairman, Cognizant India, in a note to the employees.
40 US Companies Create Global Task Force To Help India Fight Covid 40 US Companies Create Global Task Force To Help India Fight Covid The first-of-its-kind country-specific global task force to address a public health crisis in another country was addressed by US Secretary of State Tony Blinken.
India has been witnessing an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases (File)
Washington:
In a show of solidarity, CEOs of some 40 top American companies have come together to create a global task force to mobilise resources to help India fight the battle against COVID-19.
A collective initiative of the US-India Business Council of the US Chambers of Commerce, and the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum and Business Roundtable, the task force during its meeting here on Monday committed to get 20,000 oxygen concentrators to India in the next few weeks, Deloitte CEO Puneet Renjen told PTI.