Amidst the ongoing harrowing crisis, Russia has offered to supply medical oxygen and Remdesivir to India, in the upcoming 15 days. According to an ET report, Moscow has said it can supply 300,000-400,000 Remdesivir injections to India per week, which would be increased. Talks are on to begin oxygen supplies by ship soon as well.
“Russia has offered to supply 3-4 lakh Remdesivir per week and the numbers can go up. Also, oxygen supply will start via ship soon,” an official was quoted as saying.
Russia offers Remdesivir and medical oxygen supply to India
https://t.co/fZN91cuqqv— Sunanda Vashisht (@sunandavashisht) April 23, 2021
There is no denying the fact that India is in a bad shape due to the second wave of the China-made pandemic. While the first wave did not test the health infrastructure much, the deadly, mutated virus has tested it to the hilt in its second outing. With the virus puncturing the lungs of the patients, rendering them unable to breathe, Oxygen cylinders have become a priceless commodity.
While Russia, one of India’s oldest friend is lending a helping hand in times of adversity, the USA has shown its true vile colours under Democrat President Joe Biden. The US has banned the export of raw material required for the production of vaccine which can grossly hurt the mass vaccination program of the country.
Asked at his briefing on Thursday if President Joe Biden’s administration had decided on the requests made from India to lift the ban on the export of vaccine raw materials to India, State Department spokesperson Ned Price with a deadpan face said, “We have a special responsibility to the American people.”
“It’s, of course, not only in our interest to see Americans vaccinated, it’s in the interests of the rest of the world to see Americans vaccinated,” he added.
Just to jog the reader’s memory a bit, last year, New Delhi had rushed to provide the Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets to Washington, without a moment of hesitancy, when the latter was pleading on its knees to the countries around the globe.
India does not have the problem in the production of medical oxygen, albeit it has been the logistical part of things that has proved to be the undoing for the entire healthcare system. As per government estimates, India’s oxygen production capacity was 6,000 metric tonnes (MT) per day a few weeks ago. It has since been raised to 7,800 MT. Oxygen consumption in the country has jumped to 4,000 MT daily from a fourth of that before the pandemic in the healthcare sector.
It did not help that a Chief Minister like Arvind Kejriwal who was granted the funds to set up oxygen plants sat on the money and instead of constructing a few, lavishly spent it on advertisements.
Russia helping India in time of need and the US ditching it is the perfect lesson for New Delhi that it can never fully trust the Americans. The breakthroughs that were made in the Trump era between the two countries have been offset permanently and it will have some deep impact going further.