Vikrant Shekhawat : Apr 27, 2021, 12:53 PM
New Delhi: The first batch of ventilators and oxygen concentrators from Britain arrived in India today to tackle the devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was flagged off on Monday evening. UK government sources said the forthcoming consignment paid by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is being managed during this week. It will include 9 airline container loads.It consists of 495 oxygen concentrators, 120 non-invasive ventilators and 20 manual ventilators. Sources said that the focus right now is to speed up the continuous flow of essential equipment immediately. To meet the needs and requirements in India in the long term, discussions are ongoing between government departments, High Commissions of both countries, groups of Indian origin in the UK.Over the weekend, the FCDO had announced that more than 600 critical medical equipment would be sent to India to discuss India's fight against Kovid-19 after discussions with the Indian government.Boris Johnson said - Britain as a friend and partner with IndiaBritain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson said "important medical devices, including hundreds of oxygen concentrators and ventilators, are now on their way to the UK to save lives from this deadly virus." One stands in this difficult time as a "friend and companion". "Britain's Foreign Minister Dominic Raab described India as a "very important partner" and held talks with Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Monday. Jaishankar said in a Twitter statement after the phone call, "We discussed our cooperation to address various aspects of the Kovid challenge. Also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda. "