India gets 400 tonnes of oxygen, 69 plants from abroad

India has received close to 400 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen, about 69 oxygen generating plants and other medical emergency items from abroad and more shipments are on the way, thanks to an initiative led by the external affairs ministry.

Oxygen supplies from abroad have been critical in the fight against Covid-19, particularly during late April-early May period, people aware of the matter told ET.

Till Tuesday, more than 100 oxygen tankers, over 20,000 oxygen cylinders, over 50,000 concentrators and over 10,000 ventilators, too, had been delivered to India either through grant or procurement, ET has learnt. The country is expected to receive a total of 1,600-1,700 mt of liquid medical oxygen. Oil producing nations of Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, and Oman have been the biggest source of medical oxygen. Shipments from Qatar are part of a French-Qatar initiative. The MEA’s efforts to get tankers from Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, and China have been extremely critical for storage and movement of medical oxygen from within the country, sources said. Foreign minister S Jaishankar and foreign secretary Harsh V Shringla have been holding regular internal briefing to coordinate the ministry’s efforts to procure medical equipment and supplies from abroad, ET has learnt.


Each MEA division has been made part of the initiative to augment efforts of central government agencies and state governments to fight the ongoing second wave of the pandemic. The MEA initiative helped make resources from abroad available seamlessly within a few weeks to fight the pandemic, sources said.

As ET reported earlier, the ministry has formed a team of four senior officers to coordinate with other arms of the government and states on Covid-19 related overseas assistance and commercial procurement.