US companies create global task force to help mitigate COVID-19 in India

WASHINGTON: During a meeting of US-India Business Council of the US Chamber of Commerce, and the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum and Business Roundtable, CEOs of 40 top American companies came together to create a global task force. The task force committed to provide 20,000 oxygen concentrators to India in the next few weeks. It will also provide other supplies like monitoring kits. The announcement comes amid shortage of crucial medical supplies and an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases in India.

Puneet Renjen, CEO, Deloitte, said that the assembled task force will be called the ‘Global Task Force on Pandemic Response: Mobilizing for India’. He also said that the fight against COVID-19 is personal for him as many of his family members in Haryana and more than 2000 of Deloitte’s employees in India have contracted the disease.

The task force comprises of representatives from the retail sector, e-commerce, pharmaceutical, technology industry and large manufacturing entities. Suzanne Clark, President and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, said that the American business community is very determined to lead the way in providing a global consolidated response to COVID-19.

Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Indian Ambassador to the US, will coordinate with the task force to streamline their operations in the country. He had given them a list of items one week ago. The list comprised items of critical need such as oxygen concentrators, oxygen generators, two anti-viral medicines that the US government can release, monitoring kits, and easing the supply of critical materials for vaccines.

The first 1000 tankers are scheduled to arrive in the middle of this week and by May 5, another 11,000 oxygen concentrators are expected to reach the country. Renjen has said that their goal is to get around 25,000 oxygen cylinders to India.