MasterCard, a leading global payments company, has donated $ 8.9 million to the American India Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit, to install 2,000 portable beds in India, recovering from the deadly wave of COVID-19.
AIF announced on Friday, “MasterCard has allowed an incredible $ 8.9 million for AIF COVID-19 Response to install 2,000 portable beds in India.”
The grant is estimated to help 2.5 million Indians have access to healthcare. “This is the AIF’s biggest gift, and these funds will be used to purchase and place portable hospitals in areas of greatest need across the country,” the nonprofit said.
Each bed unit will be equipped with ventilators, medical equipment, and other supplies. Each unit can easily be de-constructed or re-purposed as additional space for different community needs, a media release said.
Meanwhile, New Jersey-based Mount Sinai Hospital announced on Friday that on May 3, 100 sleep apnea machines with 25 ventilators, and kits to be converted into ventilators would be sent to hospitals across India via chartered aircraft across Mumbai.
The effort was led by Urology Department Chairman Dr. Ash Tiwari and Michael J. McCarry, Senior Vice President of Perioperative Services.
A media release stated, “Mount Sinai Hospital acquired these ventilators for its COVID-19 Surge last year and we are delighted that they can now be directed to where they may be of greater use.”
Ventilators, re-oxygen equipment, and supplies being sent to five public hospitals in Mumbai, Delhi, Kanpur, Kolkata, and Bengaluru are being divided into five bandages.
Dr. Tiwari, through its foundation, The Global Prostate Cancer Research Foundation, has also purchased disposable supplies for 100 patients and will also help fund the costs of air shipping.
India is in the midst of a deadly wave of COVID-19, with more than 4 lakh new infections reported on Saturday, taking caseload to 1,91,64,969. According to the Ministry of Health, the death toll is 2,11,853.