Ten days after the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) appealed to the public requesting support in the form of medical equipment to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, as many as 836 oxygen concentrators have been received by the corporation from various organisations.
"We have received a good response till now. Many more proposals are being processed,” said Joint Commissioner (SWM) Sarfaraz Khan, the officer-in-charge. The 836 oxygen concentrators have been distributed across the Covid Care Centres (CCC) and the maternity hospitals which have been converted into triaging centres.
ACT Grants, a movement by India’s startup ecosystem to fight societal problems at scale, is a major contributor which has donated 616 concentrators to date. The other contributors included KIAF, Give India Foundation, Forward Foundation, and Lalamove India.
According to a senior BBMP official, several corporate companies and NGOs have proposed to set up fully functional Covid Care Centres for the public.
"These proposals are being evaluated and a couple of them will be approved soon. We have advised them to make sure that the CCCs set up follow the guidelines issued,” he said.
However, apart from the oxygen concentrators, the BBMP had requested other medical equipment including ventilators, ICU monitors, ECG machines, big nebulizers, and BIPAP machines.