Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan’s visited Kuwait to meet the new Amir of Kuwait established a foundationfor boosting ties, and this later ended up being an accidental chance which would help secure genuinely necessary Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) to fulfill needs, here after second wave of Covid. It was in October last year that Pradhan had gone to Kuwait to pass on close to home messages of sympathies from the President and Prime Minister on the demise of the previous Amir. The visit by Pradhan ended up being extremely helpful in getting Kuwaiti help in the recent weeks. In mid-April, as the savagery of the Covid rise and the attendant respiratory issues turned out to be clear, MEA took care of business to secure LMO from around the world. Indian Envoys quickly began searching for reasonable providers. Obviously separated from obtaining LMO, the co-ordinations of moving it back to India would be an essential component. Because of security concerns, LMO can’t be shipped via air. Also, there are restricted cryogenic tanks universally that can move LMO.
Industrial oxygen is created in huge amounts in oil creation and refining business. MEA understood that with some handling, this could be changed over into clinical grade oxygen and nations like Kuwait could be helpful hotspots for LMO. Indian Ambassador to Kuwait, Sibi George, connected with the Kuwati specialists. To push India’s case, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar addressed his Kuwaiti partner, Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, on April 27 and got a positive reaction. “Following back to this, the Kuwaiti Cabinet met at a crisis meeting and gave sympathies and quick help. An unequivocal responsibility of quick help and backing to India was made and guidelines were given to the concerned authorities to assemble every single accessible asset and supplies required by India,” sources said.
George contacted the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry, Kuwaiti Port and Industries Authorities, and Kuwait Red Crescent Society. He likewise visited major mechanical gas plants. He had the option to get a responsibility of more than 1400 MT of LMO from Kuwait. Similarly, he had the option to persuade Kuwaiti questioners to rent cryogenic tanks that could ship this LMO to India in clumps, sources educated. This included 7 tanks of 20 MT limit each, just as 3 semi-trailer trucks of 25 MT limit each, totalling upto 215 MT of LMO. This would be given on a free premise. The Ambassador likewise activated the Indian people group to help. Around half a million US dollars have been raised, which is being utilized to send an extra 70 MT of LMO, aside from a huge number of oxygen chambers and some oxygen concentrators.
Next came the test of shipping the filled LMO tanks to India. In a very much organized activity with Indian Navy, Operational Samudra Setu II was dispatched. The main parcel of 7 tanks has now arrived at India on board INS Kolkata, Tabar and Kochi, and the tanks are being emptied. The semi-trailers will arrive at India in later this week on a business transport. The LMO from this first shipment will expand clinical oxygen accessibility in Karnataka. To guarantee a fast turnaround, MEA chose to look for IAF help. Thus, the vacant tanks will be carried by IAF back to Kuwait with the goal that they can be immediately filled up again. Then, the Indian Navy boats will get back to Kuwait for getting the following part of filled tanks. A sum of 7 such runs are arranged, sources said.
Kuwait has, subsequently, become a significant provider of LMO to India. Independently, a Kuwaiti Military Aircraft conveying fundamental supplies including oxygen concentrators, oxygen chambers and ventilators arrived at Delhi on May 4. A huge number of oxygen chambers have additionally shown up ready the Indian Navy ships.
Jaishankar on May 11 called his Kuwaiti partner to pass on his appreciation for Kuwait’s help. The goodwill produced by the arrangement of an Indian Rapid Response Team a year ago including military clinical experts, in the underlying days of Kuwait’s fight against Covid-19, likewise helped hugely. In this manner, India had reacted to Kuwait’s call for help by providing 200,000 doses of Made-in-India antibodies.
