After talking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone on Monday US President Joe Biden has said that United States will stand by India in its worst-ever Covid crises as the country stood by US when it was struggling with the disease.
The two administrators talked as the US pledged to help India by supplying more tham 600 pieces of medical equipments.
The assistance will include all from oxygen to raw materials for manufacturing vaccines, test kits, PPE kits, drugs etc.
“India was there for us, and we will be there for them,” said Joe Biden by tweeting soon after he talked with PM Modi.
The phone call conversation between the two leader was for the second time after Biden sworn in as the 46th President of US.
“Today, I spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and pledged America’s full support to provide emergency assistance and resources in the fight against COVID-19,” said the US President.
Soon after India’s request for oxygen, US administration started exploring options to supply oxygen to India. Two bodies — Dpartment of Defense and USAID are working on finding the best possible option for oxygen supply.
The Department of Defense is also planning to supply oxygen generation systems, which India can use to generate oxygen at its need.
US is planning to provide oxygen concentrators and ventilators and is on continue discussion with India so that the US equipements can connect to Indian devices, said an official.
After oxygen US is also thinking of providing PPE and remdesivir which can be immediately made available to those who are suffering in India.
In its request India has sent a list of seven urgent required items which include oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders with 10 litre and 45 litre capacity, oxygen generators, oxygen generation plants, remdesivir, faviprivir, and tocilizumab.
White House press secretary Ms Psaki said items like PPEs, rapid diagnostoic testing supplies and additional ventilators are suffecietly available in US to supply immeditaely to India.
She also said that US is in continue contact with India to know the demands of raw materials requirement for manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines.
“As requested by India, we will provide raw materials for the production of AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine at Serum Institute of India. I know some of these have been announced, but that’s just a little bit of additional details. So, we”re and ongoing discussions about what their needs are and how we can meet them,” said Psaki.
