HOUSTON, May 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sewa
International has spent more than six
million dollars in the last 15 days to procure lifesaving
equipment such as oxygen concentrators, ventilators, BiPap, and
CPAP machines as part of its 'Help India Defeat COVID-19'
Campaign.
Sewa shipped 260 Inogen oxygen concentrators, 1,000 oximeters,
and 9 BiPap machines from New York
on Friday, May 7. UPS Foundation
partnered with Sewa International to ship them to New Delhi by air for free. MedShare, a
non-profit that sources and delivers surplus medical supplies and
equipment to communities in need, donated the concentrators.
So far, Sewa has spent over $3.5
million to order 7,482 oxygen concentrators and procured
5,118 of them from various vendors in the USA and outside USA. Sewa has shipped 2,844 of them and 2,084
of them have reached India. They
are being distributed to government hospitals and COVID-19 care
centers and hospitals run by Sewa's partner organizations.
Sewa is planning to ship over 6,000 additional oxygen
concentrators to India in the next
few weeks. "Shipping large quantities of medical equipment to
another country from the US has a lot of logistical challenges. We
are optimizing our shipments so that they reach India fast," Sewa's President Arun Kankani said.
"Sewa has established a control room in Atlanta and it is managed by 10 Sewa
volunteers. They are constantly researching the medical equipment,
their vendors, capacity, price, and other details to purchase them
or find donors who can donate them to us."
"We got a phenomenal response from all Americans to our 'Help
India Defeat COVID-19 campaign.' Many corporates, hospitals, and
community organizations are calling us to offer help. Sewa
volunteers are working hard to connect the dots. A big thank you
from Sewa to you all," Arun Kankani
said.
Help Reached 18 States
"Oxygen concentrators distributed by Sewa have reached 19 states
in India so far and they are
Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and
Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu,
Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh," Sewa's Vice President
for Disaster Recovery Swadesh Katoch
said.
"It's very important to save every life and I am confident that
the equipment we have sent to India will ease the shortage of emergency
equipment and help COVID-19 patients recover and enable families to
protect their loved ones," Swadesh
Katoch said.
Sewa started its campaign to aid India on April
23 amid an alarming rise in the daily number of new COVID-19
cases and fatalities. Sewa has raised $16
million for this initiative so far including $7.8 million from over 105,000 donors from its
Facebook campaign and $4.3 million
through its website http://www.sewausa.org.
About Sewa International
Sewa International (www.sewausa.org) is a 501 (c)(3) Hindu
faith-based charitable nonprofit that works in the areas of
disaster recovery, education, and development. Sewa has 43 Chapters
across the USA and serves people regardless of their race, color,
religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin.
CONTACT:
Vidyasagar Tontalapur – 1 -
720-526-9939
Viswanath
Koppaka – 1- 404-304-0563
Email: 309545@email4pr.com
Web: http://www.sewausa.org
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SOURCE Sewa International